In 2018, Prof. Leila Sadat began working with Dr. Rupa Patel at the School of Medicine to collaborate on a project that aims to deliver community-based services to heal psychological trauma through justice among Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh who fled atrocities in Myanmar. In such situations, mental health outcomes are tied to the acknowledgment of crimes, the fight for justice, and the prosecution of the perpetrators. Healing Through Justice is an innovative project which utilizes Washington University’s established Bangladeshi partners in the refugee camps, including Friends In Village Development Bangladesh (FIVDB), and would be what is believed to be the first refugee healing program that combines community-based mental health and criminal justice, which could serve as a model in other refugee communities.
Click Here to watch a video about the work of the Friends In Village Development Bangladesh (FIVDB).
Click Here to watch the film trailer Never Again: Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity