ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This briefing paper is published by the Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion, in association with the UN
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance (“UN Special Rapporteur on Racism”).
The paper was designed and coordinated by Natalie
Brinham. It has been co-authored by Natalie Brinham,
Jessica Field, Anubhav Tiwari, Jaivet Ealom, Jose Arraiza
and Amal de Chickera, with input from the UN Special
Rapporteur on Racism. E. Tendayi Achiume. The paper
complements the 10 November 2020 report A/75/590
of the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism to the UN
General Assembly. The paper also draws on the expertise
and inputs of other partners from within the Rohingya
community. The paper was proofread and finalised
for publication by Georgia Field, with assistance from
Gabriella Herraiz. Design and layout by Alena Jascanka,
with assistance from Ellis Leahy.
Author Profiles
Anubhav Dutt Tiwari is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, Monash University (Australia), and a Lecturer (on leave) at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal
Global University (India). His research focusses on the
intersections between law, citizenship and refugee lives.
Jessica Field is a Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies at
the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University
College London (UK), and an Adjunct Associate Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University (India). Her research
explores the politics and history of humanitarianism and
refugee protection in India.
Jaivet Ealom is originally from Myanmar and serves as
the Chief Strategic Officer at the Canadian Rohingya
Development Initiative. He is currently studying at the
University of Toronto and is also the Community Manager at NeedsList, a public benefit corporation seeking to
advance the humanitarian aid sector by leveraging AI.
José María Arraiza is based in Madrid and holds a PhD
from Åbo Akademi University. He is a researcher on minority issues specialising in legal identity and land rights.
He has worked in the human rights field in research and
peacekeeping since 1998 in conflict and post-conflict
contexts such as Kosovo, East Timor and Myanmar.
Natalie Brinham is a Programme Officer at ISI, working primarily on ISI’s Rohingya programme. She is also
a PhD Candidate at the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI), Queen Mary University of London. She
has worked for many years in NGOs in the U.K. and
Southeast Asia on forced migration, trafficking and statelessness.
Amal de Chickera is a Co-director and Co-founder of
the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. A Sri Lankan lawyer, Amal has been working in the nationality
rights field for over 12 years and has closely followed and
worked on the Rohingya issue throughout this time.
About the Institutes on Statelessness and
Inclusion and this initiative.
The Institute on Statelessness and
Inclusion (ISI) is the first and the only
human rights NGO dedicated to working
on statelessness at the global level. Its
Mission is to promote inclusive societies
by realising and protecting the right to a
nationality.
The root causes of the depravations and
marginalisation endured by the Rohingya
community over multiple decades, are
based on racist, discriminatory and
xenophobic ideologies, laws and policies.
While Myanmar is the source of these
depravations, other countries have also
failed to provide meaningful protection,
status or rights to Rohingya, whether they
fled to their country or were born there.
In this context, a principled and sustained
human rights framing of the challenges,
which is rooted in the information,
expertise and solutions put forward by
Rohingya activists, and which challenges
and shapes responses to the crisis by
states, UN agencies, humanitarian
actors and others, is much needed. This
initiative aims to provide such a framing,
through the production of briefing papers
and other interventions on different
human rights challenges.
This is the second paper to be produced
under this initiative. The first paper,
published in August 2020, looked at the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
Rohingya communities.
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