The NextGeneration - YoungRohingya Refugees1-30 September 2021 Oxford Human Rights Festival showcases thework of Rohingya photographers in the refugeecamps of Bangladesh. Common GroundWorkspace, 37-38 Little Clarendon Street, OxfordOX1 2HF

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The Next Generationby Zahangir Alam The Rohingya are facing a “lostgeneration” as children both inMyanmar and in the refugeecamps of Bangladesh struggleto get an education.

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We live in smallhomes - ZahangirAlam "In Kutupalong, most sheltersare small. A family of 5 or 6 ormore occupies a single room.Different generations, adults,teenagers and children all inone space. There is no privacyfor us."

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Portrait of a Memoryby Abul Kalam " Some of us have beenrefugees three times since 1992.Some of us have been refugeessince birth."

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Annual Flooding byHaider Ali "The rain didn't stop. The watergot higher and higher. We hadto abandon our homes. Toiletscould not be used. Tubewellscould not be used. We couldnot cook anything."

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Scrap Collectors byMainul Islam Children collect bags of plasticrubbish to sell by the kilo. Theywork for a pittance. There aremany forms of child labour inthe camps.

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Bhasan Char byAnonymous "For some reason, I don’t sleepproperly. When I lie awake, inthe dead of night, I can hear thesea and sometimes the horn ofberthing ships. I feel a bitstrange then but by the morningthat feeling goes away." Thousands of Rohingya havebeen relocated to a remoteisland off the coast ofBangladesh.

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Fire in Camp 8 byMohammed SalimKhan "We lost everything." The greatfire of March 22, 2021destroyed the homes of over50,000 people.

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I love Van Gogh bySalim Ullah Armany "I wanted to be educated. Iwanted to read about the greatartists. But that will not happen."

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Solidarity by NoorHossain This was the first social mediaimage posted from theRohingya camps expressingsolidarity with the struggleagainst military dictatorship inMyanmar. In response, manyMyanmar people expressedregret that they had ignoredthe Rohingya crisis andacknowledged they hadbelieved the Myanmar militarypropaganda.

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Viva Messi by AbdulMonaf Argentina is the overwhelmingfavourite for Rohingya footballfans. Here, their victory in CopaAmerica, 2021, is beingcelebrated.

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Dressed up for Eid byJamal Arkani "Once I asked my mother whyshe was crying on Eid day. Shetold me that she was thinkingabout another Eid day when themilitary attacked our village andwe left our home in Myanmar."

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Dressed up for Eid byMohammed Hossain Back in Myanmar, manyRohingya could not celebrateeid for fear of persecution.They could not practise theirreligion. In Bangladesh,refugees do their best to markthe day.

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Without Wifi. Withoutconnections byMohammed Zonaid "Internet ban forced people torely on 2G. Only some spotshad any signal. And peoplewould huddle." "We were without any mobileinternet for almost a year. Wecould not get any news. Wecould not speak to our relatives.It is as if we do not belonganywhere not even on theinternet."

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Mother and Child byNoor Hossain "I am called a ForciblyDisplaced Myanmar national. Ihave no rights here. To work ormove around. My baby wasborn here but she will have norights either. We are expected tolive on rations.'

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Lost generation bySamiya "I am 30 years old. It is ok I wasnever educated. Not inMyanmar. Not in Bangladesh.But I wanted my children to beable to read and write. Is that toomuch to ask? Are we notpeople?"

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Fire by Ro YassinAbdumonab March 22nd, 2021. The barbedwire fencing around the campshindered escape from the fire.Many aid organisations voicedthis concern in an open letter.

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Broken Youth bySahat Zia Hero Naing"If something breaks, it beginsto decay. The more it decays,the more it breaks. And this iswhat happens in our camps. Thisis how it is for everything andeveryone."

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AboutRohingya refugees are from western Myanmar.  Over the last four decades,  Rohingyahave been subject to persistent human rights violations and repeated mass expulsionsfrom Myanmar.  Around a million Rohingya live in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. Ofthese, 750,000 refugees fled their homes in Myanmar after August 2017. More than halfthe refugees are children under the age of 18.  These  photographs are not taken by"professionals" per se. This is because refugees are not permitted to work or have aprofession. All but one of the images were taken on mobile phones. In spite of this,refugees are very interested in communicating their lived experience into somethingknowable for outsiders. It is the curator's wish that through these photographs we mightgain some access to the moments captured in the  photographs - so that we might get aglimpse of their lives, try to understand what is happening and perhaps do somethingabout it. 

Call to Action:Buy a photo https://kutupalong.com/oxfordALL PROFIT WILL GO TO PHOTOGRAPHERSand/or visit this page to help build much needed tube wells.https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/tubewells

AboutRohingya refugees are from western Myanmar.  Over the last four decades,  Rohingyahave been subject to persistent human rights violations and repeated mass expulsionsfrom Myanmar.  Around a million Rohingya live in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. Ofthese, 750,000 refugees fled their homes in Myanmar after August 2017. More than halfthe refugees are children under the age of 18.  These  photographs are not taken by"professionals" per se. This is because refugees are not permitted to work or have aprofession. All but one of the images were taken on mobile phones. In spite of this,refugees are very interested in communicating their lived experience into somethingknowable for outsiders. It is the curator's wish that through these photographs we mightgain some access to the moments captured in the  photographs - so that we might get aglimpse of their lives, try to understand what is happening and perhaps do somethingabout it. 

Call to Action:Buy a photo https://kutupalong.com/oxfordALL PROFIT WILL GO TO PHOTOGRAPHERSand/or visit this page to help build much needed tube wells.https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/tubewells

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Curator - Shafiur RahmanShafiur Rahman is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has beenworking on Rohingya issues since 2016. His work has featured on CNN,BBC and other channels.  His film, "Tula Toli: Testimonies of a Massacre",was the first documentary to highlight one of the worst massacres of theRakhine crisis of 2017. To see more Rohingya photography, visithttps://instagram.com/rohingyaphotography and check out theRohingya photography Zine, Doc Sábbá, here https://zine.doshsabba.com Follow Shafiur on Twitter: @shafiur

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