TAKEN


The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 200 million girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world. FGM is a tradition practiced worldwide in 29 countries. Girls' circumcision has been illegal in Kenya since 2001, but among some tribes such as the Masai people, it is still a valued tradition. Isina and Nasirian are 14-years old sisters in a remote Masai village in Kenya. They are to be circumcised due to becoming married the year after.

The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities. The tradition stems from the belief that women's sexual organs are considered to be impure. FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity.

Female genital cutting has been widely judged as a procedure against human rights and as a serious violation against women's sexual independence. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.

Taken has won the Visa D'or Daily Press Award in Visa Pour L'image in Perpignan, France, and Freelens Award in Lumix Photo Festival in Hamburg, Germany. It was also selected as the Foreign Reportage of the Year in Finland in 2014 and received the Honorable Mention in VIPA Awards in Austria.

See more of the long-term project about FGM: Escaped // Village Fighters // Cut Generation
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OASIS


Oasis provides medical care for HIV carriers who receive no support from their families, the state or the church. The residents come and go. Oasis tells about the fate of HIV-positive men in Mexico. It is a story about transsexual Mayan Indians who interpret their freedom through their secretly held femininity. Gerardo, Reyna, Deborah and Carlangas believe in tomorrow despite the contempt and quiet violence they face from the society. They have found a path to themselves, by following their inner voice from the desert to the oasis. Oasis is a place and state of mind where men are accepted as equal.

The project is part of the documentary movie Oasis (Director Alejnadro Cárdenas/Oktober Oy). The Queen by Night short won the Multimedia of the Year 2012 in Finland. You can watch the short movie on the website of Photo Raw Magazine.
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INNER SIGHT


Sub-Saharan Africa is home to approximately 7.1 of the world's 38 million blind. Cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, glaucoma are just some of the diseases that lead to blindness. Millions of people have lost their sight because of these diseases which in most cases could be prevented or cured. Blindness, disabling visual impairment and the overall lack of eye-care services are too often the result of social, economic and developmental challenges of the developing world. Poverty is increasing the amount of obstacles for the blind to survive their daily life.

Inner Sight was selected as a finalist of the Lugano Days Award in Italy in 2014.
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HAUNTED


Myanmar's first years as a democratic state haven't been rosy for everyone. Instead of new opportunities the country's Muslim Rohingya minority has become victims of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity brought upon them by their Buddhist countrymen and Myanmar's government officials. The Rohingya, already discriminated in Myanmar for decades by moving restrictions, family size limitations, marriage restrictions, limitations on education and negation of Myanmar's citizenship unless able to prove ancestorship prior to British rule, sees their future now more darker than ever.

During the sectarian clashes of 2012 5000 houses and entire Rohingya villages were destroyed with arson all over Rakhine state. Hundreds of people were killed as the buddhist Rakhine citizens armed with machetes and boosted into killing frenzy by buddhist monks looted the Muslim quarters. Mass graves were dug up by government officials to store the brutally murdered Rohingyas.

Now over 100 000 Rohingyas have been living in the refugee camps across the state for almost two years. "I was lucky to jump into the sea and hide underwater. Otherwise I would have been shot by the police," says Aung Min, a 28-year old Rohingya father of three and a community leader in a Rohingya refugee camp near Sittwe. Human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses Myanmar's officials of committing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity on the Rohingya population.

Empty slots that stand in place of the torched Rohingya villages dot the landscape of Sittwe. The state's capital air is filled with fear and suspicion as the rumors of Rohingya terrorists being trained at Al Qaida camps spread around. We are afraid that the Muslims want to kill us all, says a market seller in Sittwe harbor market, which has now been emptied of it's Muslim vendors.

The international aid organizations responsible for the maintenance of the refugee camps are terrified about the future conditions of continuing the aid work as the contempt of the Rakhine Buddhist population towards the "helpers of the Muslims" grows. The Buddhists see the aid NGOs as being partial to the Rohingya, despite the fact that 95% of the internal refugees caused by the conflict are Rohingya, and only 5% Buddhists.

With the coming Myanmar's population census the situation is not getting any brighter for the Rohingya. The government has shown no interest in including the estimated 1 000 000 strong minority into the list of the official Myanmar's citizen minorities. Already now the question of census heats the discussion among the Myanmar people, Buddhist and Rohingya. The future clashes seem inevitable.
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BONDED HOPE


Sending young girls to work as domestic servants, known as Kamalaris, is a common practice and long-lived tradition in the ethnic Tharu community in the South-West of Nepal. The girls are sent to work because of economic hardship. Often the families sending their daughters are severely indebted or can?t pay their rent.

Girls as young as 5 work for landlords or wealthy, higher-caste families. Kamalaris are forced to work long hours under stressful conditions for only a small amount of money (usually 20?30 euros a year) paid directly to their fathers. While in bonded labor, they are often denied access to basic rights such as education and an adequate standard of living. Many Kamalaris face verbal and physical abuse and sexual harassment.

In 2006, The Supreme Court of Nepal affirmed that the Kamalari practice is illegal. However, it continues to exist. After the year 2000 more than 12 000 girls were sold as Kamalaris of which more than 11 000 have been rescued.

"My father was badly indebted, and sold me as a kamalari-slave when I was 13 years old. I cried and I felt rejected, but I do not want to blame my parents. I did not see my family for three years. In the new upper caste family my job was to do all the household and field work. It was an incredibly happy moment, when I was freed and I got home. Now that I am free, I receive love and I can once again dream. As a kamalari I could only dream of becoming free.

I fight for the cause that no girl would have to be a slave like I have been. I would like to eradicate kamalari-slavery in Nepal. Parents need to understand how slave labor steals the childhood of their daughters." - Anita Chaudhary, 18, Nepal, Former Kamalari slave and present human rights activist.
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