[Mitai-announce] Refugee and Indigenous Rights Event Info

[Shankar Mukherji]

                       _Refugee and Indigenous Rights:
          A Discussion of Human Rights Issues in Northern Thailand
                          _ Thursday April 8, 2004
                                 4:30-6:00
                          E38-615, 292 Main Street
                               Sue Darlington
         Associate Professor of Anthropology & Asian Studies, Hampshire
                                  College
                               Michael Forhan
                 Executive Director, Burma Border Projects
                              Josh Rubenstein
           Northeast Regional Director, Amnesty International USA
                                      
   Panelists will discuss the persecution of indigenous ethnic minority
   groups including members of the Akha hill tribe and Burmese refugees
   and identify actions that might be undertaken by the international
   community to advocate for their rights.
   
   Sue Darlington,
   Dean and Associate Professor of Anthropology & Asian Studies, 
   Hampshire College
   
      Sue, associate professor of anthropology and Asian studies,
      received a B.A. in anthropology and history from Wellesley College and an M.A.
      and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. Her
      research, based on extensive fieldwork in Thailand, looks at the
      work of Buddhist monks engaged in rural development, environmental
      conservation and other forms of social activism. The broader questions
      she addresses in her research and teaching include understanding the
      changing social, cultural and historical contexts of human rights,
      environmentalism and religion in society. She also teaches about
      socially engaged Buddhism, religious movements, and Southeast Asian
      studies. Professor Darlington is actively involved in the struggle for
      human rights in Burma.
   
   Michael Forhan, 
   Executive Director, 
   Burma Border Projects
      
      Burma Border Projects (BBP) is dedicated to serving the needs of the
      Burmese refugees (mainly ethnic Karen and Shan) who reside along the
      border between Burma and Thailand. The primary focus is in the
      previously neglected area of mental health training and treatment.
      Mr. Forhan spent much of his life in the international arena, working
      in the field of international educational travel in the 70's, and in
      the field of anti-terrorism aviation security in the 80's.Michael
      lived in Rangoon, Burma from 1994 to 1997 where he successfully
      established two companies.
   
      In the summer of 1998, Mr. Forhan traveled to the Thai-Burma border
      where he met Dr. Cynthia Maung for the first time and secured her
      permission to feature her in a documentary film. This project
      continues today and involves the work of Emmy and Academy Award
      winning documentary producers. Meeting Dr. Cynthia, coupled with his
      growing awareness of the countless needs of the Burmese refugees and
      migrant workers living along the Thai-Burma border, inspired Mr.
      Forhan along with several Boston-area trauma therapists to establish
      Burma Border Projects, Inc. as a tax-exempt, charitable foundation in
      May, 2000.
   
   Joshua Rubenstein,
   Northeast Regional Director, 
   Amnesty International USA

      Josh has been professionally involved with human rights and
      international affairs for 25 years as an activist, scholar and
      journalist with particular expertise in Soviet affairs. Since 1975,
      Mr. Rubenstein has been the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty
      International USA, overseeing Amnesty's work in New England, New York
      and New Jersey. His responsibilities include:
      acting as an official Amnesty spokesman on radio, television and in
      the print media; maintaining extensive press contacts and initiating
      editorial board meetings on breaking human rights stories; organizing
      public forums and benefits; establishing Amnesty chapters in high
      schools, colleges and the community; directing a staff of five people
      and many volunteers in the Northeast Regional Office located in
      Boston; and participating in numerous human rights activities at the
      national and international level.
   
   Event sponsored by:  MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice and MIT Amnesty International