In January, Australians saw shocking photos of young, emaciated men washing up on the shores of Sumatra. Australian television showed these Rohingyas, members of a Muslim ethnic minority systematically mistreated by Burma’s military regime, describing how Thai authorities beat them and pushed them back out to sea. Video footage captured the Thai navy appearing to tow the men out to sea in their rickety boats. The world was horrified.

Fast forward to last week, when boat people were once again on our TV screens. On Oct. 18, an Australian naval vessel rescued a boatload of Sri Lankans in international waters (though Indonesia’s search and rescue area) and transferred them to a customs boat, which is now trying to set them ashore in Indonesia.

By Shafiq Alam (AFP) – 6 hours ago

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh — As one of Myanmar's ethnic Muslim Rohingya, 45-year-old Manjurul Islam endured a lifetime of oppression before he finally fled the country for a squalid refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Described by UN officials as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, the Rohingya are not even recognised as citizens by the Myanmar junta. They have no legal right to own land and are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission.

London, UK: An ‘Evening with Rohingya People’ was an event organized by the London based Burmese Rohingya community with the help of the Burma Campaign UK to share the dilemma of the Rohingya and discuss other Burmese multi-ethnic conflict topics on August 27, at 28 Charles Square London, said Tun Khin, the president of Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

The participants of an evening with Rohingya people