A statement from the UB School of Social Work Graduate Student Association and faculty.

Dear UBSSW community,

We, the undersigned members of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work community, are devastated and outraged at the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned fifty years of constitutional protections for abortion rights for women, girls, and others who can become pregnant.

The horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of members of the Minneapolis Police Department comes on the heels of so many deaths of Black people and other People of Color by law enforcement, as well as through other racist violence. These acts need to be named for what they are–violations of globally accepted human rights, such as the right to life, human dignity, and freedom from violence and discrimination. They are rooted in systems of structural racism and unequal access to social and economic rights and protections that disproportionately affects the health, safety, and economic security of communities of color.

Members of the faculty of the UB School of Social Work raise our voices in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and other struggles to end the dehumanization of people of color and to promote equitable and humane treatment for all people.

The UB School of Social Work recognizes the global scale of the refugee crisis and its impact on communities and countries around the world. We, the faculty, staff and students signed below, stand in solidarity with Syrian refugees and others fleeing conflict and unlivable circumstances.

We, the undersigned members of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work community, stand in solidarity with the sovereign Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies in strongly opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

An ongoing genocide of the Rohingya people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state has resulted in an exodus of currently stateless Rohingyas from Myanmar. More than 500,000 mostly Muslim Rohingyas have fled into Bangladesh between August and September 2017, increasing the national count of Rohingyas to 800,000. The government of Myanmar frames the violence as a crackdown on terrorists by the military. However, reports from the newly built refugee camp in Bangladesh indicate that indiscriminate violence was experienced by men, women, and children. Consistent with the literature on wars, rape was used by the Myanmar military as a weapon of war. Among women who have traveled to the camps there are signs of violent gang rape and forced pregnancies.