Asma Nayim Ullah
Recognised for empowering Rohingya refugees through community leadership, policy advocacy and creative initiatives.
About this finalist
- Year: 2026
- Level: Finalist
- Award category: Young People's Award
About the 2026 nomination
Asma Nayim Ullah is a Rohingya youth leader, poet and artist who has turned personal testimony into organised community power. As co-founder of the Australian Rohingya Women's Development Organisation (ARWDO), she mobilises Rohingya women, young people and families to confront practical barriers to settlement and participate in decisions affecting their own community.
Through ARWDO, Asma delivers culturally responsive wellbeing, rights and education programs, including creative arts and crafts workshops. She teaches children, young people and women to sing and use fashion as tools for self-expression and runs workshops on practical life skills. She has built partnerships creating referral pathways for newly arrived families and Rohingya people living in community detention.
Asma has also helped lead sustained resettlement and humanitarian advocacy with Médecins Sans Frontières Australia, supporting a dedicated Australian resettlement pathway for Rohingya people. She has spoken at local and international youth conferences.
She helped develop the Taro Leaf as a symbol of Rohingya statelessness and co-created Meeras Pavilion, connecting Rohingya people to the broader communities through poetry, public art and cultural exchange.
Asma has repeatedly mobilised young people, women and families carrying trauma and settlement pressures to organise, build skills and push collectively for a better future.
About the Human Rights Awards
The Australian Human Rights Awards is an inspirational showcase of the best in all of us. The Awards honour and celebrate diverse human rights heroes and significant achievements in protecting and promoting human rights in Australia.