Rohingya Crisis: haunting images show the severity of the situation

Hannah McKay spent 17 days documenting thousands of refugees fleeing Myanmar
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In October, Hannah Mckay was sent out by Reuters to photograph the Rohingya crisis in Cox's Bazar on the southeast coast of Bangladesh.

Over 17 days, the 29-year-old shot refugees, those who had made it safely to camps, those who were in the process of travelling and those who weren’t so lucky. With just a driver and fixer, a local man who had made the crossing with his family in the ‘90s, they rose at sunrise, broke in the middle of the day due to heat and worked until sunset.

The government of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, claims the Rohingya people - who have their own language and culture - are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh despite their Myanmar roots being traced back as early as the 8th century.

Since 25 August 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar but this is just the latest crisis. They have been subjected to military crackdowns in 1978, 1991, 1992, 2012 and 2015.

Under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law they’re denied citizenship meaning they can’t receive governmental support, state education and can't claim a nationality. In 2013 the United Nations described the Rohingya as "one of the most persecuted minorities in the world".

Rohingya refugees move across the Naf River as they cross the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Palong Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 1, 2017.
Hannah McKay/Reuters

Having moved to London in 2012, McKay spent time at national picture agencies and freelancing before moving in-house for Reuters last August. Over the course of her career, she’s shot the Trumps, the Royals and captured world events but this was something completely new.

“I’d never been to that part of the world and the freedom to be able to take pictures was an incredible privilege”, she says.

“They were so welcoming to me as a photographer that the access was unbelievable - you could go into people’s homes, clinics, hospitals, mosques and that’s something that isn’t really available to us in the UK.”

McKay puts it down to the fascination they held of her, being a foreigner, but also their desperation. “I think they saw us as people who can help them, I think they see our cameras as a way of showing the world what’s happening there. Their situation is so desperate that I think they’re willing to take any help that they can get and they can see the importance of what we’re trying to do”.

In one shot, a woman can be seen being pulled to safety - a moment McKay broke from her role as photographer and stepped in.

Hannah McKay/Reuters

“About 10 days in there was a crossing of about 10,000 refugees and we’d been waiting for them for a couple of days”, says McKay.

“There were huge numbers of people crossing but at one moment a lady fell at our feet. I was standing with three other photographers and she was waist deep in thick mud but she literally had nothing left in her tank and couldn’t get up on the riverbank to safety.”

“There was two other refugees who were trying to push her up but they just couldn’t do it so we pulled her out and she just lay completely exhausted on the side.”

“That whole situation - her and all the other people trying to cross was when it really hit me how real this situation is.”

“Every night I was able to go back to the hotel, wash, have some food and recuperate from the day but as it fell dark by that river, these people were just stuck there, stranded with no food or water or shelter. It felt like someone was just turning the lights off and it was really harrowing.”

When I ask McKay about battling the internal conflict of having to do a job but also being human, she’s concise in her thoughts.

“Of course there are times when your heart outweighs your head and you have to do what you can in a certain moment but I also know that I have a job to do and that job is telling these people’s stories and illustrating to the world what’s happening.”

If you want to find out more about the Rohingya crisis and how you can help, visit unicef.org.uk. You can see Hannah McKay's body of work in the above gallery.

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