Report Launch through FORT

https://youtube.com/watch?v=zZRRdMjyXFQ%3Fwmode%3Dopaque

Watch the summary of the event

The Event

On November 16, The Fort hosted an online report launch and panel discussion organized by the Rohingya Language Preservation Project—a Rohingya-led and directed initiative—for the publication of its first report,“First They Targeted Our Culture and Language”: Threats to Rohingya Language, Culture, and Identity in Myanmar and Bangladesh. The 54-page report is based on participatory action research conducted between July and December 2021. The report provides new and important findings about how the Rohingya language plays a critical and central role in Rohingya cultural identity and cultural perseveration in Bangladesh and worldwide. A news release about the report is available in English, Myanmar, and Rohingya languages

The report launched at an online press conference and panel discussion hosted by The Fort.

Speakers at the event included:

Mayyu Ali, coordinator, Rohingya Language Preservation Project and lead author of the report
Dr. Sasa, Minister of International Cooperation, National Unity Government of Myanmar
Andrea Gittleman, Program Manager, Center for the Prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Adriana Hernández, Emerging Strategies Coordinator, Cultural Survival
Matthew Smith, co-founder and CEO, Fortify Rights
Yasmin Ullah, moderator, Rohingya social justice activist

Resources

READ THE REPORT

News Releases

English-Language News Release

Myanmar-Language News Release

Rohingya-Language News Release

We launched our participatory research report “First They Targeted Our Culture and Language” on November 16, 2022 through the Fort.

The 54-page report spotlighted the importance of preserving and protecting the Rohingya language which is gradually losing in the refugee camps, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Following the report launch, the rapid shifting of the Rohingya mother language in the refugee camps became a grave concern for the Rohingya refugee community in Cox’s Bazar. On February 21, 2022, thousands of Rohingya refugees including students and teachers joined the marking of the international mother language day in the refugee camps.

The Rohingya refugees organized few events in different refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. They were holding banners in English, Burmese and Rohingya and chanted slogan for the importance of protecting and preserving the Rohingya mother language in the refugee camps, Cox’s Bazar. They also demanded the following concerns;

The Myanmar military must immediately stop the policy of cultural oppression against Rohingya in Myanmar
The Government of Bangladesh must allow Rohingya refugees to perform cultural and linguistic freedom in the refugee camps
The Rohingya community in the refugee camps and beyond must protect and preserve the mother language