Why the Australian Rohingya community is worried the Myanmar coup will backfire on them

SBS NEWS

BY MASSILIA AILI
16 March 2021

Muslim-majority Rohingya in northern Myanmar have been targeted by Myanmar armed forces and police since 2015. Source: AAP

There are fears that it's only a matter of time before the military junta in Myanmar launch another crackdown against the persecuted Rohingya population.

Random arrests, imprisonment and even torture felt all too common before Khin Win's family left Myanmar for Australia in 2004.

Today, he worries the persecution of the Rohingya population could become even worse.

Following the military coup on 1 February, there have been growing fears amongst the Burmese community both in Myanmar and Australia that persecution against the Rohingya people will escalate.

Australian Beauty Queen Fights to Raise Awareness for Rohingya Refugees

PRWIRE  

Release from zanthii communications
2020/10/07

Australia's first Rohingya beauty queen, Pan Sandar Myint is advocating for hundreds of Rohingya refugees, who have arrived in Indonesia after six months at sea.

A wooden boat carrying 297 Rohingya refugees, including 14 children, was spotted several miles off the coast of Lhokseumawe city on Sumatra's northern coast by local fishermen in early September.

Rohingya refugees' lawyers lobby for International Criminal Court to sit in Asia

RNZ
1 September 2020

Two Australian lawyers acting on behalf of hundreds of Rohingya refugees are pushing to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) sit in Asia for the first time. 

Rohingya people at Jamtoli refugee camp at Ukhia in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP / NurPhoto / Rehman Asad

The ICC is investigating allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Myanmar government and military officials in 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya - a stateless, mostly Muslim minority group - fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during the unrest.