Children rest at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, May 20. They were among the 25,000-plus Rohingya Muslim migrants who have fled reported persecution in Burma and Bangladesh this year by crossing the Indian Ocean in search of refugee status in Indonesia and Malaysia.James Nachtwey for TIME
For decades, TIME contract photographer James Nachtwey has used his camera to give form to the invisible. Yet in a world filled with persecuted people hidden in isolated corners of the globe, the Rohingya stand out. A Muslim minority from western Burma, the 1.3 million-strong Rohingya have been denied the most basic of human rights: citizenship. Their sense of self has been lost.
Since sectarian tensions erupted in 2012, roughly 140,000 Rohingya have been herded into camps by the Burmese government, which has allowed a virulent Buddhist nationalist movement to germinate. Last year, Nachtwey spent time in these Rohingya ghettos, where conditions were among the worst he had witnessed — and this from a photographer who has worked in refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East.
With limitations on their lives increasing with each month — in May, Burmese President Thein Sein signed a population-control law that could be used to restrict the number of children Rohingya bear — Rohingya have been boarding rickety boats in hopes of eventually landing in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation where they take menial jobs. Over the last year or so, around 90,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, who also hope for better economic prospects, have embarked on perilous journeys that take them across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the jungles of Thailand and Malaysia. Often, the price agreed upon for the feat of human-smuggling rises once the migrants stumble into the jungle encampments. Unless family members pay up, the Rohingya and Bangladeshis face possible starvation, disease and even execution by the traffickers.
With Thailand and Malaysia finally cracking down on the trade, the human-smuggling trawlers — slave ships, really — have turned into floating prisons, as the normal trade routes are disrupted and captains abandon their boats. Thousands may still be stuck at sea. Meanwhile, on land, authorities have found more than 150 graves of suspected migrants, near abandoned jungle camps. Police and government officials have been detained for their part in the trafficking trade.
The Rohingya, Burma's Forgotten Muslims by James Nachtwey
More than 140,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have been forced to live in camps, where disease and despair have taken root.
Abdul Kadir, 65, who has a severe stomach ailment and malnutrition, is cared for by his wife in one of the camps.James Nachtwey for TIMERelatives weep at the funeral of a woman who died at 35 of a stomach disease; she left five children behind.
James Nachtwey for TIMEA mourner weeps as she sits by an internee's coffin. The Rohingya lack medical care since most NGOs are now barred from the camps.James Nachtwey for TIMETwo men are seen mourning at the funeral of a woman who died from stomach disease.James Nachtwey for TIMEInternees in one camp operate brick kilns to earn money. Adults are paid about $2 a day; children, half that amount.
James Nachtwey for TIMEThek Kay Pyin, 7, is among the Rohingya Muslims interned in Rakhine state,
on the northwest coast of Burma. He is seen here working at a brick kiln where he earns $1 a day.James Nachtwey for TIMEChildren working at a brick kiln where they earn $1 a day.
James Nachtwey for TIMEWorkers at a brick kiln are seen tossing bricks.James Nachtwey for TIMEAt the camp, mourners are seen at a funeral for a 16-year-old girl who drank poison. James Nachtwey for TIMESuffering in the camps continues unabated.James Nachtwey for TIMEChildren learning the Quran at a madrassa in one of the camps.James Nachtwey for TIMEA child suffering from malnutrition in one of the camps is held by its mother.
James Nachtwey for TIMEAt a government-run hospital in Da Paing, a mother watches over her 45-year-old son Abdul Salam, who suffers from diabetes.
James Nachtwey for TIMEA child suffering from stomach worms with her mother at a pharmacy waiting for treatment. The owner of the pharmacy is neither a doctor nor a pharmacist but does his best to help people. International NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders have been expelled from the camp by the government, leading to a soaring crisis in health care.James Nachtwey for TIMEMalnutrition among the camps' children is commonplace. In June a top U.N. aid official who traveled to Rakhine said she had never before “witnessed [such] a level of human suffering.James Nachtwey for TIMEFishermen tend their nets before going out into the Bay of Bengal to fish, one of the main sources of food and livelihood for the Rohingya.
James Nachtwey for TIMEA blind beggar on railway tracks between two IDP camps.James Nachtwey for TIMEA boy using an umbrella as a sun shield jumps across a drainage canal behind a row of latrines at Baw Du Pha camp.
James Nachtwey for TIME
In May, Nachtwey traveled to three countries — Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia — to document the plight of Asia’s newest boat people. In Malaysia, he trekked through jungle to observe bodies being pulled out of the earth, near encampments with bamboo cages used to confine migrants. At a temporary refugee camp in Indonesia’s Aceh province, he captured an equally affecting scene: Rohingya who had spent more than three months at sea, starving and forced to drink their own urine, patiently lined up just a day after they had come ashore. One by one, they stood in front of an Indonesian photographer, who documented their names, ages and addresses — Burma was listed as their country of origin — on a whiteboard. Long unable to claim any real identity, the Rohingya were finally being given a chance at self-expression. As always, Nachtwey was there to bear witness.
Hannah Beech is TIME’s East Asia Bureau Chief and traveled with Nachtwey to report on the plight of the Rohingya.
James Nachtwey is a TIME contract photographer, documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues.
Children rest at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, May 20. They were among the 25,000-plus Rohingya Muslim migrants who have fled reported persecution in Burma and Bangladesh this year by crossing the Indian Ocean in search of refugee status in Indonesia and Malaysia. James Nachtwey for TIME Refugees rest at a camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia. They reached Indonesia after months at sea off the coast of Southeast Asia. James Nachtwey for TIME A mother holds her child at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGOs. James Nachtwey for TIME Refugees rest at a camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGOs. James Nachtwey for TIME A Rohingya child is registered at a temporary shelter in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME A 2-year-old boy cries as he is being registered at a temporary shelter in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME A refugee receives medical care in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME A refugee gets his head shaved in order to remove lice. James Nachtwey for TIME Human remains are being disinterred from an informal cemetery near an abandoned camp for trafficked refugees in the jungle on the Malaysian side of the Thai-Malaysian border. James Nachtwey for TIME Malaysian officials find bodies of migrants in an abandoned camp used by smugglers. James Nachtwey for TIME Malaysian Navy officers pray on a navy ship out of Langkawi, an island in the Andaman Sea. They are on routine patrol looking for boats with Rohingya refugees in waters neighboring Thailand. James Nachtwey for TIME