This event is organized by Rohingya Student Network (RSN), hosted by Human Rights Watch (HRW), and supported by Amnesty International.

Background and Rationale

Access to higher education remains one of the most pressing yet under-addressed challenges facing forcibly displaced and stateless youth worldwide. While global policy commitments, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact on Refugees, emphasize inclusive and equitable access to quality education, structural barriers continue to limit opportunities for displaced students. These barriers include lack of legal documentation, financial constraints, restricted mobility, language challenges, and limited institutional pathways to tertiary education.

In this context, the graduation of Maung Sawyeddollah from New York University (NYU) represents a significant and symbolic milestone. Originally from Myanmar, he fled the 2017 military violence and lived in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where access to higher education is often a nearly unattainable goal. Despite these challenges, he was able…