A new photography book by three ethnic-Rohingya artists from Myanmar will be published on Thursday (Aug 25), five years after the Myanmar military-led genocidal attacks on Rohingya that forced more than one million to flee their indigenous homeland, triggering international outcry.

The new book “A Chance to Breathe” by the three photographers -- Omal Khair, Dil Kayas and Azimul Hasson -- features rarely-seen photography and poetry from Rohingyas. It is written in Burmese and English languages.

For years, Myanmar authorities targeted the Rohingya for genocide, forcing these authors and hundreds of thousands of others from their homes in Rakhine State.

Featured in the book are a collection of original poems as well as images capturing moments in the daily lives of in camps in Cox’s Bazar District as they play sports, prepare food, read Burmese inside the camp's learning center, and receive COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Fortify Rights, an award-winning human rights organisation that works to ensure human rights for all, on Tuesday (Aug 23).

The book’s final images contain a rare self-portrait of the three photographers, as well as artwork by the photographers calling for basic human rights for the Rohingya.

While the genocide brought the plight of the Rohingya to households globally, this book is a testament to the fact that the Rohingya are more than survivors of atrocities. And the camps in Bangladesh are more than a massive tent-city of victims.

All three authors of this book are inaugural graduates of a “media fellowship” supported by Fortify Rights and Doha Debates. The authors are still living among more than one million other Rohingya in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, still dreaming of returning home.

The book features the work of Omal Khair, Dil Kayas, and Azimul Hasson, three survivors of genocide who were forced from their homes in Rakhine State during the Myanmar-military-led “clearance operations” of 2017.

Beginning on August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military razed hundreds of Rohingya villages in Rakhine State, Myanmar and killed and raped untold numbers of men, women, and children. The US and other governments, UN officials, and nongovernmental organisations determined the attacks to be genocide.

For decades, Myanmar authorities have denied the existence of the Rohingya, forbidding them from owning smartphones, cameras, or otherwise documenting their lives.