HALEY RITSEMA

Non-resident Affiliated Researcher

RESEARCH & FOCUS AREAS: Human mobility and human rights as it relates to governance and power in Burma/Myanmar and neighboring countries.

CURRENT WORK:

• Supporting a Thai-Burma border based human rights group with their advocacy and policy work

• Testimonial-driven research on Rohingya refugee movement from Bangladesh to other countries in the region

• Analysis of how conflict in Rakhine State, Myanmar impacts access to humanitarian aid anD protection in the Myanmar-Bangladesh border region

• Starting January 2027, examining how both formal and informal governance structures arE being imagined in Burma/Myanmar beyond traditional conceptions of “The State.”

PREVIOUSLY: Haley has been working with communities from Burma/Myanmar since 2021, first academically to better understand the mental health impacts of living in a refugee camp before transitioning to work focused on civil society, policy, and advocacy in Bangladesh, Burma/Myanmar, and its border areas. Prior to this, she worked in Greece and Bosnia & Herzegovina documenting refoulement and other human rights abuses committed against refugees by European states and participating in mutual aid.

EDUCATION:

Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from New York University
B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and Nutrition & Clinical Dietetics from Western Michigan University