Country of Origin: Myanmar

Main focus: Feminism, Rohingya Advocacy

Follow on: Twitter

Yasmin was born in the Northern Rakhine State in 1992. Fleeing violence from the Myanmar military in 1995, her parents took Yasmin to Thailand, where they became stateless.

Yasmin and her family were forced to live in hiding, using forged documents so that she could attend school. In 2011, Canadian missionary and Church groups sponsored Yasmin's family to resettle in Canada.

On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military began a crackdown that forced over 740,000 Rohingya to flee from their homeland in Northern Rakhine, Myanmar, to Bangladesh.

These events triggered Yasmin to become an activist and work towards raising awareness. She organized protests, engaged with journalists, and went on TV and radio shows. She joined the Rohingya Human Rights Network and worked alongside other Canadian activists.

In December 2019, Yasmin was invited to be part of a Rohingya representation by The Gambia's legal team at the International Court of Justice as the provisional measure hearing was taking place.

Yasmin's work with the Rohingya Human Rights Network was instrumental in encouraging the Canadian Parliament and Government to recognize Myanmar's military crackdown against Rohingya as a genocide.

Yasmin currently serves on the Steering Committee of a project called Bridges Myanmar, organized by ALTSEAN to bring Myanmar youth, including those from among the diaspora and those on the ground, to discuss issues relevant to human rights and bridging the gap of division and mistrust created under the influence of the military repression.

Yasmin has worked on various projects such as the Time to Act: Rohingya Voices exhibition launched in June 2019 with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Genocide Learning Tool with the Montréal Holocaust Museum, and the Anthology: I Am A Rohingya, where she published her poetry.

Read more of Yasmin’s work here:

• Why Myanmar’s persecuted ethnic groups must stand united against the military - Washington Post, September 2019

• I Am A Rohingya Refugee. Today, We Seek Justice - Forward, December 10, 2019