“I left my country because I did not want to die in Burma. Now that I am in India, I want to die.”
(Popular proverb amongst the Burmese community in Delhi)
To celebrate this year’s Refugee Week (20-24 June), Amnesty International is hosting a photography exhibition by Simone Novotny at the Human Rights Action Centre, London. This exhibition tells the stories of Burmese refugees and asylum seekers living in New Delhi, India.
In Burma they have been persecuted and have had their political, economic, social and cultural rights violated by the military junta, in power since 1962. The chance to speak freely and to practise their religion openly in India is welcomed, yet many Burmese refugees continue to suffer discrimination in all areas of daily life including access to jobs, food, healthcare, housing and education.
As a border country, India has been the destination to nearly 100,000 Burmese. There are around 12,000 Burmese living in Delhi and 7,000 have been granted refugee status by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). In Delhi, the majority of them are Chin, a minority ethnic group from Western Burma, for whom Christianity is part of their identity.
The main focus of the exhibition at the Human Rights Action Centre is on women as they are in a particularly vulnerable situation, first when they suffer constant threats from the military junta in Burma and then when they are unprotected and their rights are ignored in India.
Photographer Simone Novotny worked with independent film maker and producer Eduardo Pereira on this project, conducting interviews in January and February 2011 in Delhi, India.
Notes to the Editors:
1. The exhibition is free and will be held from June 20th to June 24th (9am-6pm) - late evening on June 22nd until 9pm. Venue: Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard,
London, EC2A 3EA.
Phone +44 (0) 20 7033 1500. For directions check:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_21095.pdf
2. For further information or images contact Simone Novotny at simone.novotny@eyesofchange.com; www.eyesofchange.com
3. Simone Novotny has a post-graduate in Photography at Central St. Martins, London and MSc in Development at the London School of Economics. She has been working as a freelance documentary photographer for the past 5 years and has worked for Amnesty International, Red Cross and Save the Children.
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