As Rohingya communities prepare to mark nine years since the 2017 military violence, survivors resettled in Australia say safety has not erased trauma, separation from family or fears over the survival of Rohingya identity.
by RK Desk
- As Rohingya communities prepare to mark nine years since the 2017 military violence, survivors resettled in Australia say safety has not erased trauma, separation from family or fears over the survival of Rohingya identity.
- Trauma Continues After Resettlement
- Fear of Losing Rohingya Identity
- Remembering 2017 From Australia
22 August 2026: Nearly nine years after Myanmar’s military drove more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, survivors who have rebuilt their lives in Australia say the violence continues to shape their lives as relatives remain displaced across Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Speaking to ABC News ahead of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, survivors Saddam Hossain and Shofika Begum described the violence they witnessed in 2017, the trauma they continue to carry and their concern for relatives who remain outside Myanmar.
Hossain fled to Bangladesh after being shot several times when Myanmar forces attacked his village in northern Arakan in 2017.
He told ABC, through Rohingya community spokesperson Robi Alam, that soldiers began shooting at people after surrounding the village.
Hossain was shot in both legs while trying to release his cattle as the attack unfolded. With his injuries untreated, family members carried him for much of the journey towards Bangladesh. A trip to the border that would normally have taken around an hour by vehicle took seven days, according to Alam.
After reaching Bangladesh, Hossain spent around four years receiving treatment while living in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps before eventually being resettled in Australia through a humanitarian program.
But resettlement has not ended the effects of what he survived.
Hossain told ABC that although he appears alive from the outside, he does not feel the same internally.
His father and two uncles were killed, while one of his brothers remains in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
According to Alam, Hossain wants Australians to understand what happened to his family and community and continues to seek justice for the violence committed against Rohingya.
Trauma Continues After Resettlement
Shofika Begum also reached Australia through a humanitarian pathway after first fleeing to Bangladesh.
She told ABC that members of her family were killed when Myanmar forces attacked her village in 2017, including a sister whose killing she witnessed.
Begum said memories of the violence continue to affect her sleep and daily life even after reaching safety in Australia.
Several members of her family remain displaced. One sister and two brothers are living in the Bangladesh camps, while two other brothers are in Malaysia, according to ABC.
Although Begum said she is grateful that her children can now grow up without the constant fear she experienced, she remains deeply worried about relatives who have not found the same security.
The experiences of Hossain and Begum illustrate a reality facing many Rohingya who have been resettled in third countries: physical safety does not necessarily end the effects of persecution, family separation and prolonged statelessness.
Fear of Losing Rohingya Identity
For younger Rohingya growing up outside their homeland, another concern is the preservation of identity.
Robi Alam, president of the Rohingya United Youth Network and a community spokesperson in Australia, was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh and lived there for the first 10 years of his life before his family moved to Australia.
He told ABC that hearing accounts of violence against Rohingya has become an almost daily experience in his community.
Alam said decades of persecution have also created a fear that Rohingya identity itself could gradually disappear as the community remains dispersed across refugee camps and diaspora countries.
“We don’t want to lose who we are as a community,” he said.
“And I don’t want to lose who I am as a Rohingya as well.”
Advocates estimate that around 5,000 Rohingya now live in Australia, although there is no definitive official count of the community.
For diaspora organisations, maintaining Rohingya identity increasingly means preserving community history, language and culture while younger generations build lives far from Arakan.
Remembering 2017 From Australia
Four Rohingya community organisations were due to hold a Genocide Remembrance Day gathering in Kingston, Logan, on August 22.
The event was organised by the Rohingya United Youth Network, Australia Rohingya Council, Burmese Rohingya Association in Queensland and Rohingya Community of Queensland.
Rohingya communities around the world mark August 25 in remembrance of the military operations that began in 2017 and forced more than 700,000 people to flee into Bangladesh.
This year marks nine years since that mass displacement.
For survivors now living in Australia, remembrance is closely connected to those who remain behind—more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, communities still living under severe restrictions and insecurity in Arakan, and families scattered across countries in the region.
For Hossain and Begum, Australia has provided security that was denied to them in Myanmar. But their accounts show that resettlement has not severed their connection to the Rohingya crisis.
Their relatives remain displaced, memories of 2017 remain unresolved, and the demand for justice and the preservation of Rohingya identity continues across borders.
