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<div align="center"><font color="#0000FF"><b><u>Refugee and Indigenous
Rights: A Discussion of Human Rights Issues <br>
</u></b></font><font color="#000080"> Thursday April 8, 2004<br>
4:30-6:00<br>
E38-615, 292 Main Street<br><br>
<b>Kate Ricke</b></font>, MIT senior and former intern at the Akha
Heritage Foundation<br><br>
<font color="#000080"><b>Michael Forhan</b></font>, Executive Director,
Burma Border Projects<br><br>
<font color="#000080"><b>Josh Rubenstein</b></font>, Northeast Regional
Director, Amnesty International USA<br><br>
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Panelists will discuss the persecution of indigenous ethnic minority
groups including members of the Akha hill tribe and Burmese refugees and
identify actions being undertaken by the international community to
advocate for their rights.<br><br>
<b><i>Katharine Ricke, Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences,
MIT<br>
</i></b>Kate spent the summer of 2003 working with the Akha Heritage
Foundation in the Chiang Rai province of Northern Thailand. The
mission of the organization is to improve the lives and the political
status of the ethnic hill tribe, the Akha, via public health,
agriculture, water quality, language preservation, and other community
projects, as well as direct campaigns to improve treatment of the Akha by
Thai authorities and dissemination of information about the Akha and
their plight through electronic and paper publications.<br><br>
<br>
<b><i>Michael Forhan, Executive Director, Burma Border Projects<br>
</i></b> Burma Border Projects (BBP) is dedicated to serving
the needs of the<br>
Burmese refugees (mainly ethnic Karen and Shan) who reside
along the<br>
border between Burma and Thailand. The primary focus is in
the<br>
previously neglected area of mental health training and
treatment.<br><br>
Mr. Forhan spent much of his life in the international
arena, working<br>
in the field of international educational travel in the
70's, and in<br>
the field of anti-terrorism aviation security in the
80's.Michael<br>
lived in Rangoon, Burma from 1994 to 1997 where he
successfully<br>
established two companies.<br>
<br>
In the summer of 1998, Mr. Forhan traveled to the Thai-Burma
border<br>
where he met Dr. Cynthia Maung for the first time and
secured her<br>
permission to feature her in a documentary film. This
project<br>
continues today and involves the work of Emmy and Academy
Award<br>
winning documentary producers. Meeting Dr. Cynthia, coupled
with his<br>
growing awareness of the countless needs of the Burmese
refugees and<br>
migrant workers living along the Thai-Burma border, inspired
Mr.<br>
Forhan along with several Boston-area trauma therapists to
establish<br>
Burma Border Projects, Inc. as a tax-exempt, charitable
foundation in<br>
May, 2000.<br>
<br>
<b><i>Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty
International US</i></b>A<br>
Josh has been professionally involved with human rights
and<br>
international affairs for 25 years as an activist, scholar
and<br>
journalist with particular expertise in Soviet affairs.
Since 1975,<br>
Mr. Rubenstein has been the Northeast Regional Director of
Amnesty<br>
International USA, overseeing Amnesty's work in New England,
New York<br>
and New Jersey. His responsibilities include:<br>
acting as an official Amnesty spokesman on radio, television
and in<br>
the print media; maintaining extensive press contacts and
initiating<br>
editorial board meetings on breaking human rights stories;
organizing<br>
public forums and benefits; establishing Amnesty chapters in
high<br>
schools, colleges and the community; directing a staff of
five people<br>
and many volunteers in the Northeast Regional Office located
in<br>
Boston; and participating in numerous human rights
activities at the<br>
national and international level.<br>
<br>
<i>Event sponsored by: MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice and
MIT Amnesty International <br><br>
</i><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Susan Frick<br>
Program Assistant<br>
Program on Human Rights and Justice<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
E38-277, 292 Main Street<br>
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307<br>
Tel: 617 258 7614<br>
Fax: 617 452 3962<br>
Email: fricks@mit.edu<br>
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/phrj" eudora="autourl">http://web.mit.edu/phrj</a><br>
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