BESET BY communal violence and frequently denied their human rights, life for many in Myanmar's Rakhine State is desperately grim. But our fieldwork suggests there is a path towards peace.
Rakhine State was virtually unknown in the West until torn asunder by communal strife in 2012. It borders Bangladesh and is frequently the point of departure for tens of thousands of Muslim refugees who traverse the Bay of Bengal in rickety boats, hoping to seek asylum in Thailand, Malaysia or even Australia.
It is Myanmar's second-poorest state, with a poverty rate close to twice the national average.
These Muslims, who call themselves ''Rohingya,'' bore the worst of the 2012 conflict with the local majority Buddhist ''Rakhine''.
Three years later, more than 140,000 Muslims still live in internal displacement camps. Others have been restricted to an urban ghetto with limited medical care, services or income opportunities.
Myanmar's government denies the Rohingya citizenship. Even those who previously held citizenship papers have had them removed. (Courtesy of Phuket Wan)
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