Razia Sultana

Lawyer and Rohingya Human Rights Activist

Region(s): Asia
Country of focus: Bangladesh, Myanmar
Based in Chittagong

Details

Current Occupation: Lawyer and Rohingya Human Rights Activist
Organization/Institution: RW Welfare Society
Language: English, Hindi, Bangla

Media

10 ways to help end violence against women and girls IRC Mar 6, 2024

Will the UN’s plea to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh be answered? Inside Story Al Jazeera Mar 7, 2023

Documenting SGBV Crimes during Conflict: The View from Cox’s Bazar Witness Blog Mar 2023

Dreams grow if you grow Ms. Razia Sultana TEDx Talks Feb 23, 2023

Years of horrific atrocities against Rohingya women and girls cannot go unanswered Opinion The House Nov 29, 2022

Giving a voice to the voiceless: activist fights for Rohingya women Fair Planet Oct 19, 2022

‘Rohingya refugees need education to take control of their future’ Q&A The Daily Star Bangladesh Aug 26, 2022

Documenting SGBV Crimes during Conflict: The View from Cox’s Bazar Witness Mar 31, 2022

In the Rohingya camps of Bangladesh, a women’s-rights organization illustrates the power of local Oxfam Politics of Poverty Blog Feb 1, 2022

‘Living without a country’ The Rohingya exile  Pauxa Films documentary 2021

Rohingya urge Myanmar shadow government to keep promise, denounce role in past Andalou Agency June 5, 2021

These 4 Beautiful Portraits Showcase Peacebuilders Around the World Global Citizen March 8, 2021

Statement by Ms. Razia Sultana at UN Security Council Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict UN April 16, 2018

Covid-19: In Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, women refugees are setting up health units for awareness Thomson Reuters Mar 15, 2020

Meet the Woman Documenting Sexual Violence Against Myanmar’s Rohingya Time Mar 27, 2019

She fled home to escape violence. Now she’s been lost at sea for two months  CNN April 27, 2021

The Rohingya need Canada’s support now Oped IPolitics Aug 27, 2020

Meet Razia Sultana, the Rohingya activist and feminist IRC Mar 4, 2020

UN Court Orders Myanmar to Take Steps to Protect Rohingya Muslims VOA Jan 23, 2020

Bangladeshi educating Rohingya earns global praise Nov 30, 2020

Razia Sultana (@AdvRaziaSultana) is a lawyer, human rights activist and Chairperson of the RW Welfare Society (Rights for Women), a grassroots organization based in Bangladesh working to prevent human trafficking and to support refugee women. Her work focuses on trauma, mass rape, and trafficking of Rohingya girls and women.

Razia has been a courageous advocate for Rohingya rights and works with some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region of  Bangladesh.

In 2018, she published two ground-breaking reports: “Witness to Horror” in 2017, and “Rape by Command: Sexual violence as a weapon against the Rohingya,” exposing the widespread and systematic use of sexual violence by the Myanmar army as a weapon against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. She is a senior researcher with Kaladan Press Network, an independent and non-profit Rohingya news agency.

She was awarded the U.S. State Department’s 2019 Women of Courage Award and was a civil society Rohingya representative at the UN Security Council. In April 2018 Razia addressed the UN Security Council’s Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict on the Rohingya crisis.

Razia is described as one of the pillars of the 2021 documentary film Living Without A Country , chronicling the genocide of the Rohingya people. The filmmakers met her at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh where they recorded testimonies from people who for the first time dared to express the traumatic experiences they had lived.