I, Rohingya

August 2021 marks the fourth anniversary of the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. Four years since the Burmese military launched its most brutal and sustained ethnically and religiously motivated campaign of violence against the Rohingyas of Rakhine.

The Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are one of the most persecuted groups in the world. Disenfranchised by a pro-nationalist Burmese military junta in 1982 which denied them education, health care and jobs, the Rohingya have since been subject to escalating state-sponsored violence over the past 40 years forcing them to flee into neighbouring countries – many of them into the world’s largest refugee camp at Cox’s Bazaar.

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The United Nations, human rights groups, international media, governments, and criminal courts have all accused the Burmese military of genocide and ethnic cleansing, citing evidence of extrajudicial killings, arson attacks on schools and villages, mosque burnings, extortion, gang rapes and executions.

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The Myanmar government has dismissed the accusations as "exaggerations".

Today we launch I, Rohingya – a Queensland-based photojournalism project to amplify the voices of those who have witnessed and continue to live with the shadow of genocide in Rakhine, and to encourage the broader community to learn and stand beside them.