I watched a boatload of refugees arrive, fleeing the Arakan Army in search of safety. As they stepped onto land, several women in niqabs crumpled to the ground, overcome with emotion, gripping the rough concrete pier as tears streamed down their faces. After a few moments, they gathered themselves and pressed forward, while others discreetly diverted the attention of the Border Guard Bangladesh—who, despite the subterfuge, were surely aware that new arrivals were slipping ashore.

I recently spent a day in Teknaf, Bangladesh, speaking with locals about their experiences of the Rohingya Genocide. Teknaf, in the far southeastern corner of Bangladesh, is separated from Myanmar’s Rakhine State by the Naf River, which empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Rakhine has been the epicenter of genocidal violence, first perpetrated by the Government of Myanmar between 2016 and 2017, and later by the ethnic militia known as the Arakan Army (AA) since 2024. Nearly the entire Rohingya population of Myanmar has been forced to flee due to systematic and brutal persecution: entire villages burned to the ground, widespread sexual violence, torture, and the mass killing of tens of thousands of people.

As a Muslim minority in a predominantly Buddhist state, the Rohingya have endured decades of relentless oppression, dating back to the 1940s. They have been subjected to systemic discrimination— denied citizenship, extorted by the Myanmar Army and Arakan civilians, bullied in school, prohibited from practicing their faith, denied access to education, and conscripted for forced labor and military service. Those who resist or even voice their grievances face imprisonment, torture, or death.

I will recount what I learned on that sweltering day about this unfolding humanitarian crisis.

I chose not to approach the newly arrived refugees, knowing that the last thing they needed in that moment was an inquisitive professor. Instead, I sought out the fishermen who plied the brackish waters of the Naf River—the front lines of this unfolding genocide. I found them seated on concrete beams beneath the pier, and they agreed to speak with me.

The Fisherman

A slight, sun-wizened fisherman of 72 sat beside me in my minivan, its doors open to the heavy air. My research assistant, Shakila, leaned back in the driver’s seat, listening.

The fisherman remembers 2017 vividly. Across the Naf, he watched flames devour villages and heard the crack of gunfire. Then came the thick smoke, rising from homes reduced to ash in a single day. And finally, the bodies—drifting onto the shore in distressing numbers. He saw “hundreds,” many of them women and children.

His voice catches, as he recalls, “I stayed here the whole day.  The Myanmar military killed them and threw their bodies into the river. There were a lot of dead bodies on the riverside, and gunfire was going on over there. I came here to see what was happening.”

The shoreline there was a treacherous expanse of deep, silty mud flats, where thousands of Rohingya struggled to reach solid ground. Some arrived by boat, while younger refugees braved the low tide, swimming with desperate determination, clinging to plastic jerrycans if they had the strength.

Fishermen under the pier at Teknaf, Bangladesh. Photo by Dr. Kjell Anderson.

Local Bangladeshis could not stand by in silence—they “couldn’t tolerate seeing the condition these people were in.” Women arrived unclothed, and he offered his own wife’s clothing to restore their dignity. In the months that followed, he gathered food from neighbors and cooked for the refugees. People lined the roadside, “full of hunger,” waiting for sustenance. The need was immense, and locals rushed to help, drawn by the distant, harrowing sounds of gunfire and bombing.

The sheer number of bodies washing ashore was overwhelming, so he enlisted around 300 students from the madrasa (Muslim religious school) to assist. He remembers the toll it took: “After collecting the bodies, I became senseless. I prepared the funerals and gathered clothing for them. Sometimes, we had to find funeral garments for 8–10 bodies at once. Every day, we discovered 5–6 dead.”

They worked tirelessly to provide proper Islamic burials whenever possible, but the scale of loss was staggering. Many were laid to rest in mass graves. “One day, I performed funerals for 30 people.”

His voice trembled as he spoke of the many pregnant and unclothed women who arrived in those desperate days. “We found a woman who had been raped and later became pregnant,” he recalled. “She gave birth to a baby boy, and now he is seven years old. We admitted him to an Islamic orphan school here.”

The violence against the Rohingya has not stopped. He tells me, “I saw fire a few days ago, when they burned the whole village… they have been burning villages for the past month.” Just a week before our conversation, thousands more had arrived in the area. “They survived for 18 days in the hills of Myanmar, eating tree leaves, before finally managing to reach Bangladesh.”

The Driver

A local driver told me a similar story. Many of the Rohingya that arrived in 2017 had no clothes, many “had not eaten for three days. Some had food, some were sick, and some were injured by sharp knives or gunshots. I supported them by transporting them with my jeep.”

He continues, “they told us that Arakan people beat and slaughtered them. They said their fathers and brothers were killed. When we saw their condition, we realized how much these Muslim people had suffered. They asked for our help, saying, ‘We are Muslims, and you are also Muslims. Please help and support us.’” The stories he heard about sexual violence were “unbearable.”

He saw countless bodies floating in the water, a grim testament to the scale of the tragedy. He documented what he witnessed with his phone but later deleted the photos—too painful to revisit. Yet, he remained determined to help recover and restore dignity to the dead.

“I personally put the bodies into the graves,” he said. “I collected 5, 6, or 7 bodies at a time from the riverside—young girls, children, women, and elderly people’s dead bodies, which were swollen and smelled bad. I brought them in my jeep. No one was ready to collect the bodies except me and some madrasa students. Together, we prepared the graves.”

Fishing boats at the pier at Teknaf, Bangladesh with Maungdaw (Myanmar) in the distance. Photo by Dr. Kjell Anderson.

Alongside local fishermen and others, he helped bring food and water to the refugees, most of whom had gone days without sustenance. “Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], I also took financial support from my brother who lives abroad to help the Rohingya people.”

It has become harder for the Rohingya to cross the Naf River, but they continue to flee persecution—now from the Arakan Army. Recent accounts suggest the AA is even more brutal than the Myanmar military. Those who attempt to cross do so “secretly,” as Bangladesh’s government enforces tighter restrictions.

Days prior to our interview, a boat carrying 50-60 people sank and 30 people died, including a Border Guard of Bangladesh officer who drowned while trying to save them.

The driver’s children are sometimes woken in the night by “booming sounds from Myanmar. Our land shook like an earthquake.  We could see they were burning the houses from here.”

After our interview ends, he tells me “If you had seen them in that condition, you would cry also.”

These are the stories of the Naf River—of struggle, death, courage, and compassion. Ordinary people, driven by humanity, feeding and clothing desperate refugees. Children laying the dead to rest because no one else is there to do it.

As I spoke with these shaken, elderly men, black smoke coiled into the sky from a burning village across the river.

Dr. Kjell Anderson’s areas of research focus include genocide, human rights, mass atrocities, and international criminal law. He has also written about and taught research methods in dangerous or sensitive political contexts, and qualitative interview methods. He co-wrote the book Approaching Perpetrators: Insights on Ethics, Methods, and Theory, with Dr. Erin Jessee (University of Wisconsin Press), which outlines a code of best practice when conducting research in genocide studies, transitional justice, and related fields. For past projects, he has done qualitative interviews with victims and perpetrators of mass atrocities in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Bosnia, Cambodia, India, and Iraq. Currently conducting research for his next book in Bangladesh, Dr. Anderson has shared this story to provide insights into what this kind of research entails.

The International Human Rights Clinic at the UM Faculty of Law opened this fall.

Fenske shared that through a combination of clinical projects and academic learning, “students are immersed in human rights work. By engaging with mechanisms that protect and promote human rights at the international, regional, and domestic levels, students gain hands-on experience while also developing practical skills in strategic advocacy, focusing on some of today’s most pressing human rights challenges.”

For the 2024-2025 academic year, students in the IHRC can participate in one of four initial projects that align with the IHRC mission to advance human rights through collaborative research, experiential learning, advocacy and litigation.

Second-year law student Tréchelle Bunn is working on an IHRC project in partnership with the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO). The project focuses on advocating for the rights and interests of the 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba that SCO represents.

A key part of Bunn’s project with SCO through the IHRC involved preparing for and participating in the United Nations Second intersessional meeting of the Human Rights Council on concrete ways to enhance the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the work of the Council. The Second Intersessional Meeting was held from October 17 to 18 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Left to right: Chief Kurvis Anderson (Pinaymootang First Nation), Tréchelle Bunn (2L), Peter MacDougall (Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva), Grand Chief Jerry Daniels [BA (Economics)/08] (Southern Chiefs’ Organization Inc.), and Chief Wayne Desjarlais (Ebb and Flow First Nation).

During the meeting, Bunn delivered four key interventions before the Human Rights Council on behalf of SCO, offering specific recommendations on how the Council can enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in its work. In one intervention, Bunn emphasized the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ involvement in the work of the Human Rights Council and all UN mechanisms, stating, “There should be no forum where UN bodies and entities are discussing the rights of Indigenous Peoples without the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples.”

In addition to advocating at the Second Intersessional Meeting, Bunn attended the 89^th Session of the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Bunn also had the opportunity to attend a reception at the Permanent Mission of Canada in Geneva, where she connected with Canada’s CEDAW Delegation and Peter MacDougall, the new Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN Office at Geneva.

Reflecting on her experience, Bunn shared, “It was inspiring to be among Indigenous leaders from around the globe, and I look forward to continuing my journey as a human rights advocate. I am so grateful to SCO and for the opportunity to be part of the IHRC, where I can combine my passion for advocating for my community and all Indigenous Peoples with the chance to build a solid foundation in human rights law through the seminar portion of the course.”

Through experiences like Bunn’s, the IHRC is building meaningful partnerships with community organizations and showcasing its commitment to providing law students with the education and hands-on experience essential for a future in human rights law and advocacy.

Among other things, it’s built a free digital surveying tool (Our Data Indigenous) that’s being used by more than 30 Indigenous communities for all sorts of data collection — from moose populations to surveying community desires regarding a proposed recreation centre.

The digital app adheres to the First Nations principle of OPAC (ownership, control, access and possession of data).

To read the full story, please visit Winnipeg Free Press.

In 1980, Justice Sinclair was called to the Manitoba Bar and focused primarily on civil and criminal litigation, Indigenous Law, and Human Rights. Justice Sinclair was well-known for his passionate and thorough representation of his clients, Indigenous governments, Indigenous child welfare agencies, Friendship Centres, Métis organizations, and Indigenous corporations.

To read the full story about Justice Sinclair’s award, please visit Canadian Architect. 

Sean Carleton, a historian at the University of Manitoba, said the documents provide important evidence to back what Indigenous leaders long argued and suspected.

“These documents help us see the disjuncture between the ways Canada presents itself on the world stage and what it’s doing behind closed doors,” he said.

“There’s a disingenuous nature to the way that Canada presents itself and the work that it does to facilitate ongoing colonization.”

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Filing a complaint based on a party’s messaging, rather than a government service, adds a layer of “interesting complexity,” said human rights lawyer Allison Fenske.

“There are a lot of legal recognitions of the right to free expression and certain legal protections around political activity,” said Fenske, who is also clinical counsel at the University of Manitoba’s law faculty.

“That said, people still have the right to be free from discrimination so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that certain actions taken in the course of that political activity could garner attention with respect to the human rights code.”

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A graduate of the Robson Hall, Fenske was called to the bar in 2008. After beginning her legal career with Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, she joined Legal Aid Manitoba’s Public Interest Law Centre in 2015 and has represented residential school survivors, First Nations organizations, and equity-deserving groups. She taught courses on women and the law and the Canadian legal system at the University of Winnipeg and gender and the law at the University of Manitoba. In 2013, she received the Manitoba Bar Association Pro Bono Award, which is awarded to lawyers or firms for the donation of professional services towards the enhancement of access of public interest legal services in Manitoba. In 2016, Fenske was commended by the Clerk of the Executive Council for her work on behalf of patients seeking medical assistance in dying for which she also received the Manitoba Bar Association Access to Justice Award.

Fenske has appeared before all levels of courts in Manitoba, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as numerous provincial and federal administrative tribunals. She has served, and continues to serve as a presiding member of the Housing Cooperatives Appeal Tribunals.

For Fenske, taking on the position of a clinical instructor at Robson Hall is a sort of homecoming. As a student here, she was a Solomon Greenberg finalist and top oralist (2^nd) at the Wilson Moot. “These experiential learning opportunities were foundational in developing my skills as a litigator,” she explained.

In addition to court work, Fenske has co-authored publications in the areas of access to justice and public interest litigation including “Justice Starts Here: A one-stop approach for achieving greater justice in Manitoba,” Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2017 and “Wheels of Justice: Reflections from the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba,” published in the book Public Interest Litigation in Canada, edited by Cheryl Milne and Kent Roach, 2019 (LexisNexis: Toronto) and Supreme Court Law Review, 90:2.

“I have focused my advocacy work on navigating legal issues through an intersectional feminist and social inclusion lens on behalf of people and communities marginalized through state and systemic oppression,” said Fenske, describing the path she has taken since leaving Robson Hall.

Having focused her legal practice in public law (including in the areas of human rights, constitutional and Aboriginal law), and administrative law, Fenske brings much-needed focus to teach students how to litigate in these areas. Her experience working for Legal Aid Manitoba makes her a perfect fit to be returning to the Manitoba Law Foundation-supported UMCLC. The University of Manitoba’s Strategic Initiatives Support Fund’s investment in the forthcoming international human rights clinic is also in good hands as Fenske gets settled at Robson Hall.

Produced with funding from the Legal Research Institute, the Law Foundation of Manitoba, and with assistance provided by Carmen Roberge, Faculty of Education and Professional Studies, Université de Saint-Boniface, the CJHR is an internationally recognized journal that attracts scholarship from respected human rights scholars around the world. Publications have included immigration and refugee law, freedom of expression, equality, sexuality and gender rights, international law, criminal law and numerous other issues related to domestic and international human rights.

“As we start our second decade, I can’t help but think back on all of the amazing students who have come together each year to work as a team to fulfill our mandate to promote awareness and discussion of issues of human rights law and policy,” said Dr. Short. “So many of those students have gone on to have a real impact on the respecting of human rights through legal practice, academia and volunteerism and I have maintained contact with many of them. This year’s senior editors, Brayden Gray and Rhiannon Swan, led a wonderful team of student editors and it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction to know that, once again, there have been so many people who are committed to ensuring that this work continues – and that we are here to stay.”

Senior Editors Gray and Swan both graduated from the Juris Doctor program this spring, having both completed clerkships at the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Swan won course awards for highest standing in Torts, Criminal Law and Contracts, and is now articling at Fillmore Riley. Gray served as Vice-President Internal for the Manitoba Law Students’ Association and is now articling at MLT Aikins.  He describes his time spent with the journal as “an incredibly fulfilling experience.”

“I had the privilege of starting as a Junior Editor and rising through the ranks to Senior Editor, said Gray. “Throughout that time, the CJHR has provided me with an eye for detail, an understanding of the academic process, confidence with editing, and an opportunity to lead.”

“I’ve enjoyed my time with the journal so much that I have been trying to find a way to stay involved! My time with the CJHR was truly a highlight of my academic career. I could not recommend it enough to students, and I definitely have already done so.” – Brayden Gray, Senior Editor, CJHR

 Gray also spoke highly of the experience of working with Dr. Short, emphasising his mentorship and guidance. “I cannot express enough how much of a pleasure it was working with him and chatting with him about the journal, law school, and anything else that came up,” said Gray. “Every conversation with Dr. Short has been a conversation I feel glad walking out of. I know he may shake his head at me for making any of this about him, but the journal is uniquely representative of him, and it wouldn’t be the same CJHR without him. He put his trust in Rhiannon and me this past year to keep the ship steady, and it was an honour to do so.”

Being based at a Faculty that houses a graduate program which includes a Master of Laws and a Master of Human Rights degree (with Dr. Short serving as Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies) the CJHR offers opportunities to law students to engage in Human Rights research, which Gray recommends as a way to “maintain their hunger for advocacy and to explore their curiosities.”

“Many of our submissions are highlighting gaps in Human Rights, exploring solutions, advocating for change, and examining unexamined areas,” Gray explained. “Peer reviewers often feel privileged to review our submissions and are excited to see new scholarly articles. I have seen CJHR citations in other journals. This is a highly respected and special journal for many, and I cannot wait to track its progress and evolution.”

Further to that, Dr. Short added, “I am also very grateful to the amazing scholars who support us by sending us their work and who want to publish with us. As we start the next decade, I have some plans I would like to implement to expand the forms of scholarship we publish, both in terms of content and delivery. I look forward to seeing where we are where when this next decade concludes.”

Articles contained in the 11^th Anniversary edition include “Ignoring Complex Identities: Canada’s Post-Ezokola Overzealous Application of Article 1F(a) of the Refugee Convention” by Randle C. DeFalco, “Prosecution as a Tool of Human Rights: Reflections on Dominic Ongwen” by Emil Stanca, “Citizenship, Belonging, and Deportation” by Benjamin Perryman, and “Systemic Discrimination Against Female Sexual Violence Victims” by Karen Bellehumeur.

The full volume is available for download on the CJHR website, along with past volumes.

This year’s editorial board consists of the following individuals:

Editor-in-Chief
Donn Short

Senior Editors
Brayden Gray and Rhiannon Swan

Editors
Julian Brown
Dominique Gibson
Brandon Gray
Keelin Griffin
Stephan Possin
Prachi Sanghavi

Summer Editor
Stephan Possin

Assistant Editors
Sami Bhangoo
Jaspreet Brar
Nicole Golletz
Carly Lafond
Pavel Shetra
Corbin Stewart
Jeremy Tran
Maya Yuel