Rohingya: Peter Voss Photography

During my frequent visits to Bangladesh in recent years I have also got to know the tribe of the Rohingya in the south of the country, near Chittagong. The fate of these people moved me so much that I decided to produce a new illustrated book. I flew to Dhaka in March 2021 to spend several weeks with my two wonderful guides and photographers in Cox's Bazar so that I could be close to the Rohingya. Myanmar recognizes the members of 135 ethnic groups as full citizens - the Rohingya are not among them. According to Wikipedia the Rohingya are an ethnic group in Myanmar (formerly Burma), who as their native language speak a dialect of Indo-Aryan Chittagonian, which is included in the Bengali sub-branch of the Eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages. Almost all Rohingya are Sunni Muslims. They lived predominantly in Rakhine State (former Arakan) in Myanmar. Public authorities in Myanmar refuse to accept the designation "Rohingya" and speak instead of "Bengalis". With this they make plain their position that these are illegal immigrants, i.e. displaced Muslims.