These twins were born little more than two weeks ago in a Muslim IDP camp near Sittwe. Their mother suffers tuberculosis, is very weak and can't breastfeed them. The family is so poor that they can only given them cheap powder milk not suitable for infants, so they have not received proper nourishment during their first two weeks of life. As the Burmese government has expelled all INGOs and international agencies working in the area, neither the mother nor the twins can receive any medical treatment.

By Andrew Stanbridge

Roads & Kingdom

January 14, 2013

Of all the challenges that Myanmar’s Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has stared down in her life, the one she faces in 2014 may be the one she fails. She seemingly willed her country to democracy, but as a freed opposition politician she has so far been unable—or, her critics say, unwilling—to help the most vulnerable members of Myanmar society, the Rohingya minority.

A year and a half ago, an outbreak of violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Sittwe, Myanmar, started a struggle that drove nearly 150,000 Rohingya from their homes and into poorly run Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. Photographer Andrew Stanbridge made multiple trips to Sittwe amidst the continuing violence to document the Rohingya’s problematic situation and uncertain future in Myanmar. 

In the Muslim neighborhood of Aung Mingalar, security forces and barricades block off roads, preventing Rohingya from taking part in normal Sittwe society, which leaves them with little sources of food or work. Worse are the conditions inside the dusty camps, where those lucky enough to have the official aid buildings live 10 families to each long house. Those that are still waiting for shelter from the government are left to create makeshift tent cities out of whatever they can salvage, whether it be empty food bags from aid groups or dried rice stalks. Temperatures can vary drastically, from searing daytime heat to cold nights and monsoon rains. Access to clean water and food is limited and although toilets are some of the first things built, raw sewage still moves through open waterways. There are frequent disagreements between the police—largely members of the Burmese ethnic majority—and the Rohingya IDPs. These confrontations sometimes turn violent. 

There are other oppressed minorities in Myanmar—the Shan, the Kachin, the Karen—but the Rohingya are not even recognized as a legitimate ethnic group in Myanmar, nor are they given citizenship rights. They have no voice. The question for 2014 is: Will Aung San Suu Kyi lend them hers? —Pauline Eiferman

[Top image: A burned Rohingya mosque in the town of Sittwe, Myanmar.]

Andrew Stanbridge is a Portland, OR based photographer who photographs, publishes and exhibits internationally. His most recent work shown here is the culmination of two trips to Sittwe, Myanmar to cover the aftermath of violence between Buddhists and Rohingyan Muslims. More of his work can be found at andrewstanbridge.com.

October 19, 2013

Noor Haba, 18, from Boomay, near Sittwe, was separated from her husband during the violence outbreak of October 2012. She arrived at Rabba Garden IDP camp 5 months ago with her son who is now one year old and suffers from a congenital disorder. She is 6 months pregnant with her second child. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013. Mehjabeen, 62, from Thandawly, prays surrounded by children. She has become a respected elder in the community of Takeybin unregistered IDP camp where she now lives in the outskirts of Sittwe. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013. Aamina, 54, from Thandawly, arrived at Takebyin unregistered IDP camp in the outskirts of Sittwe 5 months ago. 'I saw how Arakan killed my son and burned my village. Protecting our children is the most important task. I wish that our children can go to school and learn, so that they can fight the prejudice against Rohingya and have a better future. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013. The inside of a make-shift tent at Takebyin unregistered IDP camp. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013. Zara Hadu, 50, from Thandawly Villlage, has lost the ability to walk after breaking her leg and hip when trying to flee from the ethno-sectarian violence of October. She has no shelter and must shift tents every few hours where there is space for her. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013. Zohra Bahar, 24, from Aung Mingalar. Zohra sold the little valuables she had left to bribe the local authorities to allow her to reunite with her youngest child, whom she holds in her arms. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013.  Rabiyah Hatu, 46, from Thandawly, now lives in Takeybin unregistered IDP camp. 'I do not speak of the grief because I understand the need to give our children hope that this endless punishment will one day be over.' Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013.  Sadiyah, 5, from Boomay, near Sittwe, holds broken pages of the Qu'ran as she walks home from a make-shift Madrasa set up in Thawepen unregistered IDP Camp, in the outskirts of Sittwe. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013.  A group of young Rohingya girls fill their jars with water from one of the few water pumps available to the IDPs living in Rabba Garden IDP camp. Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar, July 2013.

Burma’s Rohingya Muslims have been described as the world’s forgotten people. Stripped of citizenship by the former military junta in 1982, many thousands have been stuck in limbo along the Bangladeshi border in northwestern Burma for decades.

Last year two bouts of vicious communal clashes thrust an international spotlight on their plight. Over 200 people were killed and some 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, were ripped from their homes. Displaced Rohingyas, who are considered illegal Bengali immigrants in Burma, are now isolated in dreary camps and ghettoes, with limited access to food, sanitation or healthcare. Buddhist nationalists and extremist groups have been blamed for stirring up hate-speech against the group, while local police and security forces have been accused of participating in the violence, described by human rights groups as a “systematic” campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Journalists Matt Rains and Alia Mehboob travelled to Arakan state in August 2012 to document the lives of Rohingya Muslims in the wake of last year’s violence.

RB News

May 25, 2013

The camps of the internally displaced Rohingyas at Thay Chaung in Sittwe got flooded due to the heavy rains. Although the government often say that they will send the displaced Rohingyas under shelters, they have not implemented anything yet. Now, the displaced people are finding extremely difficult to even sleep at night.