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Noor Azizah    

Former Rohingya Refugee, Human Rights Advocate & Educator

Noor Azizah is a 27 year old former Rohingya refugee. She resettled with her family in Sydney in 2003 at the age of 8, having fled the genocide of Rohingya people in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. She experienced homelessness, statelessness and a sense of hopelessness in her early life. While other children went to school or played with friends, she and her family made their way through the thick jungles, avoiding death at every turn, sleeping on roads and scavenging for food.

Walking from country to country, they found a resting place in Malaysia, a place they thought everything would be OK. Instead, the nights were witness to the calls of their empty stomachs, days would go by where Noor and her siblings would go without eating. Azizah holds herself responsible for the voices of Rohingya women who have face the unimaginable atrocities of systematic rape, torture and the murder of family and friends.

This feeling remains at the forefront of her mind. Azizah channels this ever-present sense of duty into all her work. Azizah has a Bachelor of Education (Primary & TESOL specialisation) and Master of Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney. Azizah was named one of YAIA's 2022 Young Women to Watch in International Affairs. She was selected as an Australian delegate for the Young Pacific Leaders Conference 2023. Azizah is a refugee delegate at the United Nations in Geneva where she also spoke at The Global Refugee Forum (2019) as a keynote speaker advocating for Rohingya women.

Azizah is part of the Gender Audit Team (UNSW & UNHCR), Member of the ATCR Refugee Steering Group (Annual Tripartite Consultation on Resettlement UNHCR), Young Migrant and Refugee Women's advisory board (Harmony Alliance), U.S. Consulate General's Sydney Youth Advisory Council and International Rohingya women's network (Fortify Rights). She is extremely passionate about the right's of children and women to receive education. Azizah is currently working as a English as a Second Dialect Specialist teacher in Sydney and a Rohingya refugee consultant on various boards, including Asia Justice & Rights and those mentioned above. She loves languages, travelling, culture and going on waterfall adventures.

Speech Topics


Women Empowerment

Noor speaks of her experience of elevating women through self, communal and social empowerment".

The Power of Education

Noor speaks about the value of education in bettering one’s self and securing a better future. How she had limited access to education prior to arriving in Australia, and attests to the value of education.

Social Justice

Noor discusses her experiences with racism in Australia and abroad, including the less visible and overt experiences of racism, and how they can be avoided. She can speak about her advocacy and social justice work for example, working in Refugee camps, working in providing reparation for Rohingya women, cultural preservation and being a Refugee advisor for the UN.

Refugee Awareness

Noor speaks about what refugees can do to contribute to society and changing people's perception of refugees. She shares her own experience achieving her Bachelor of Education (Primary) and Master of Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney. Noor speaks about hurdles she faced as a person from a ethnic minority and how she achieved her goals.

Noor’s story

Noor shares her story of resettled with her family in Sydney in 2003 at the age of 8 fleeing the atrocities happening in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, about her journey through Malaysia and how she ended up in Australia."

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