For Immediate Release
Dr. Holly Atkinson, volunteer medical advisor and past president of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), will speak Monday at a panel event, “Our Walls Bear Witness: The Plight of Burma’s Rohingya.” The event is hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in partnership with PHR.
Atkinson was one of the lead researchers on two reports PHR recently released on Burma. The first report documented a massacre that took place in late March in the central Burmese town of Meiktila, while the second report, released in August, examined the patterns behind anti-Muslim attacks across the country. PHR has been pushing for a full investigation into these attacks, and has called on Burmese leaders to publicly condemn all ethnic and religious violence, institutionalize protections for minority groups, and create accountability mechanisms.
Alongside Greg Constantine, author of “Exiled to Nowhere: Burma’s Rohingya,” and Maung Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, Atkinson will discuss the current situation of the Rohingya – a Muslim minority in Burma’s Rakhine State that is long considered among the world’s most persecuted people – and the increasing violence against Muslims in Burma. The panel will also discuss the photographs and stories of individuals whose lives have been affected by the violence.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public. Reservations are requested here.
Denied citizenship and rendered stateless by the Burmese government, the 800,000 Rohingya lack basic rights, including the right to work, marry, and travel freely, and routinely suffer severe abuse. Following violent attacks in 2012 that destroyed numerous Rohingya communities, more than 100,000 are now confined to displacement camps and segregated areas, where they continue to be subjected to violence including crimes against humanity.
The event includes a week-long exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which will project more than 120 building-size images onto the museum’s exterior to bear witness to the suffering of the Rohingya and to raise the alarm about the possibility of future violence against them. The images of the Rohingya displaced in Burma and in exile were taken by prize-winning photographer Greg Constantine, and will be shown Monday through Friday, November 4 – 8 from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. as part of FotoWeek DC’s Night Gallery.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.