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RohingyaRefugees

02 JUNE 2015 - KULAI, JOHORE, MALAYSIA: ZAHIDA, a Rohingya refugee in Kulai, Malaysia, feeds her mother, ASMA, 90 years old, in their home in Kulai. They came to Malaysia on a boat with 50 members of their extended family. They paid traffickers 250,000 Malaysian Ringgits (about $65,000 US) to bring them to Malaysia via traffickers' camps in Thailand. The UN says the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in western Myanmar, are the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world. The government of Myanmar insists the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has refused to grant them citizenship. Most of the Rohingya in Myanmar have been confined to Internal Displaced Persons camp in Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar and settled in Malaysia. Most fled on small fishing trawlers. There are about 1,500 Rohingya in the town of Kulai, in the Malaysian state of Johore. Only about 500 of them have been granted official refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The rest live under the radar, relying on gifts from their community and taking menial jobs to make ends meet. They face harassment from Malaysian police who, the Rohingya say, extort bribes from them. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

Filename
RohingyaRefugeesKulaiMalaysia047.jpg
Copyright
© 2015 Jack Kurtz
Image Size
4608x3456 / 11.3MB
Contained in galleries
Rohingya Refugees Struggle in Malaysia, Malaysia (All), Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (All)
02 JUNE 2015 - KULAI, JOHORE, MALAYSIA: ZAHIDA, a Rohingya refugee in Kulai, Malaysia, feeds her mother, ASMA, 90 years old, in their home in Kulai. They came to Malaysia on a boat with 50 members of their extended family. They paid traffickers 250,000 Malaysian Ringgits (about $65,000 US) to bring them to Malaysia via traffickers' camps in Thailand. The UN says the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in western Myanmar, are the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world. The government of Myanmar insists the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has refused to grant them citizenship. Most of the Rohingya in Myanmar have been confined to Internal Displaced Persons camp in Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar and settled in Malaysia. Most fled on small fishing trawlers. There are about 1,500 Rohingya in the town of Kulai, in the Malaysian state of Johore. Only about 500 of them have been granted official refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The rest live under the radar, relying on gifts from their community and taking menial jobs to make ends meet. They face harassment from Malaysian police who, the Rohingya say, extort bribes from them. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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