CHAM MUSLIM CHILDREN

• Prize
  Bronze in Editorial/Photo Essay
• Photographer
  JAVIER SÁNCHEZ-MONGE ESCARDO

The Cambodian Cham Muslim minority descends from the VI century’s Indo Chinese Kingdom of Champa and they represent one of the many Muslim communities which live peacefully throughout South East Asia. They coexist among Buddhists, Christians and animists, and throughout the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia many were exterminated by the regime, along with members of other religions, a fact that gives them a strong feeling of national Cambodian identity and non-discrimination towards other religions. Their interpretation of the Sharia is that of a tolerant one, and the children are raised happily without feelings of gender-based discrimination.