An International Conference

on the Situations of Rohingya People

in Myanmar and Bangladesh

1 June 2018
09:00 hr to 19:15 hr
National Assembly, Paris, France

Hosted by
The France-Bangladesh Friendship Group, National Assembly
With the assistance and cooperation from the Free Rohingya Coalition1

Welcoming Addresses
09:00 hr – 09:30 hr

by

The Honourable Danièle OBONO (MP)

President of the France-Bangladesh Friendship Group
Member of the Secretary of the European Affairs Commission,
National Assembly, France

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
(In Persian with simultaneous translation)
09:30 hr – 10:00 hr (20 minutes address + 10 minutes of Q and A)

Dr Shirin EBADI
Lawyer, human rights advocate and Noble Peace Laureate 2003

1Free Rohingya Coalition (FRC) at https://freerohingyacoalition.org/en/ is an umbrella network of

Rohingya refugees, their leading spokespersons, and international friends working together to end
Myanmar genocide and build a viable future for the survivors of state-directed persecution.
 International Conference on the Situations of Rohingya People in Myanmar and
Bangladesh (French National Assembly, Paris, 1 June 2018)

PANEL I: Myanmar’s Decades-long Persecution of Rohingyas:

The Victims’ Genocidal Experiences
10:00 hr – 11: 20 hr (12 minutes each x 5 + 20 minutes of Q and A)

Chair : Ms Khin Mai Aung, USA

Burmese-Rakhine American Civil Rights Lawyer, writer and a former editor of
California Law Journal and Asian Law Review
at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law

Razia Sultana, Rohingya woman lawyer & researcher and Coordinator for Women
and Children, Trafficking, Free Rohingya Coalition

Nurul Islam, Rohingya lawyer and rights campaigner, Chair of the Arakan Rohingya
National Organization (ARNO) & Coordinator for Policy Affairs, Free Rohingya
Coalition

Dr Hla Kyaw, Rohingya medical doctor, Chair of European Rohingya Council &
Coordinator for Education and Youth, Free Rohingya Coalition

Nay San Lwin, Rohingya manager, Editor, Blogger (Germany) & Coordinator for
Media relations, Free Rohingya Coalition

Tun Khin, Rohingya engineer and activist, President of the Burmese Rohingya
Organization (UK) & Coordinator for International Outreach, Free Rohingya Coalition

Coffee/Tea Break (11:20 hr – 11:35 hr)

PANEL II: FRENCH PERSPECTIVES

11:35 hr – 12:35 hr (15 minutes each speech x 15 minutes of Q and A)

Chair: Nacira Guénif, France

Professor of Educational Sciences, Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis,
France

1. Hon. Danièle Obono, National Assembly, France

2. Mr Hla Aung, President, Burmese Rohingya Association France
3. Dr Alice Baillat, Research Fellow, The French Institute for International and
Strategic Affairs (IRIS); and William Lebedel, NGO Friendship France
4. Dr François Robinne, CNRS & Lyon Institute of East Asian studies

Lunch Break (12:35 hr – 14:00 hr)

For the general audience, lunch is not provided by the Conference.

There are several restaurants within a few minutes’ walk from the venue.

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 International Conference on the Situations of Rohingya People in Myanmar and
Bangladesh (French National Assembly, Paris, 1 June 2018)

LUNCHEON/SECOND KEYNOTE SPEAKER

(In English with simultaneous French translation)
14:00 hr – 14:30 hr (20 minutes address + 10 minutes Q and A)

Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury

MP, Honourable Speaker of the National Parliament, Bangladesh and Legal Scholar
and Practitioner (PhD in Law, Essex)

PANEL III: SCHOLARLY AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

14:30 hr – 16:00 hr (15 minutes presentation each + 30 minutes of Q and A)

Chair: David Palumbo-Liu

Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, and professor of comparative literature, and, by
courtesy, English, at Stanford University

Professor C. Abrar, International Relations & Migration, the University of Dhaka,

Bangladesh and Convenor of the International Dhaka Conference on Ending
Myanmar’s Slow Burning Genocide of Rohingyas (29 Nov 2017), on civil society’s
views regarding the impact of Myanmar Genocide on Bangladesh

Natalie Brinham, Economic and Social Research Council PhD Scholar, Queen Mary
University of Law & co-author of “The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s
Rohingyas”, The Pacific Rim Law and Policy Review, (Spring 2014) & “Reworking the
Colonial-Era Indian Peril: Myanmar’s State-directed Persecution of Rohingyas and
Other Muslims”, The Brown Journal of World Affairs (Winter, 2018), on the
Statelessness as an Intentional Outcome of Genocide

Michael W. Charney, Professor of South East Asian and Military Histories, School
of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London on the history of Arakan
or Rakhine with specific reference to ethnic identities of Rohingya and Rakhine

Dr Maung Zarni, Non-Resident Fellow, Genocide Documentation Center of

Cambodia and Adviser to the European Centre for the Study of Extremism,
Cambridge, UK on Myanmar’s Ethnocratic Military, Its Organizing Racism and
Strategies of Oppression and Genocide

Coffee/Tea Break (16:00 – 16:15 hr)

PANEL IV: INTERNATIONAL LAW ROUNDTABLE

16:15 hr – 17: 30 hr (15 minutes each presentation x 3 + 30 minutes Q and A)

Chair: Professor John Packer, Canada

Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution, and Director of the
Human Rights Research and Education Centre, U. of Ottawa, Canada, former Legal
Assistant to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, (1992-93)

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 International Conference on the Situations of Rohingya People in Myanmar and
Bangladesh (French National Assembly, Paris, 1 June 2018)

Doreen Chen, Deputy Head of the Defence Team for Khmer Rouge “Brother Number
Two” Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge Tribunal, and Lead Prosecutor in the Permanent
Peoples Tribunal on Myanmar (2017)

Michael A. Becker, WM Tapp PhD Scholar at Gonville & Caius College, University
of Cambridge, Visiting Researcher at Trinity College Dublin, former Associate Legal
Officer with the International Court of Justice and former Editor-in-Chief, Yale
Journal of International Law

Ashley S. Kinseth, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Lawyer with on-
the-ground experience in Rakhine & Myanmar, & former Editor-in-Chief of the
Columbia Human Rights Law Review

Special Address (pre-recorded)

17:30 hr –17:45 hr

By

The Honourable Bob Rae

The Canadian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Myanmar

PANEL V: GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE

17:45 hr – 19:15 hr (10 minutes each slot x 6 + 30 minutes of Discussion)

Chair: Dr Maung Zarni, UK

Dr Malik Mujahid, Chairman, Burma Task Force/USA, a coalition of Muslim

organizations working to end Myanmar genocide & former Chair, Parliament of the
World’s Religions

Dr Michimi Muranushi, Professor of International Politics, Gakushuin University

(formerly Imperial University), Tokyo, Japan

Prof. Yusuf Balci, President of the Arakan Project, Ankara, Turkey

Tracey Gurd, Sr. Director for Civil and Political Rights and Advocacy, American
Jewish World Services, USA

Tapan Kumar Bose, Renowned Indian Journalist and Convenor of the International
Conference on the plight of the Rohingya, New Delhi, India

Irish Delegation: Liz Farrell, Member, Executive Committee, Teachers’ Union of

Ireland & Stephanie McDermott, Lecturer, Carlow College, & Initiators of Free
Rohingya Coalition Ireland