Biography:
Paula Bronstein is an American photojournalist who is based in Bangkok specializing in the Asian region. She has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout her long career that spans over three decades. Her expertise is documenting humanity,...
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At the Panzi hospital in Bukavu, a young rape victim named Bilati, age 3, waits for an operation to repair her vaginal area.
The situation in the DRC has gotten worse with alarming escalation of human rights violations and abuse against women and children who suffer fearing reprisals and social exclusion. The most disturbing issue highlights the sexual violence against young women and even children as young as three years old. For teens this often leads to unwanted pregnancies. For children it can even be worse both mentally and physically, many are permanently traumatized and when they mature, will never be able to have children. Unfortunately, impunity remains the norm and justice is often the exception.
Nurse Roberta Lana (center) examines a trauma patient along with other medical staff in the emergency room at the Emergency Surgical Center for Civilian War Victims in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 22, 2019. In August, there were 455 admissions to the Emergency hospital, which is the highest in well over a decade. The overall civilian casualty figures are much higher in 2019 as well, besides the bloody attacks from the Taliban this also includes Afghan army operations and international forces as well. After 18 years of war, the Taliban control more of the country since 2001.
A the Emergency hospital Najiba holds her nephew Shabir, age 2, who was injured from a bomb blast which killed his sister in Kabul on March 29, 2016. Tragically, Najiba had to stay with the children as their mother buried her daughter. Despite billions of dollars spent by the international community to stabilize the country, Afghanistan has seen little improvement in terms of overall stability and human security. Afghan civilians are at greater risk today than at any time since Taliban rule.
Negina, 19, sits on her bed at the at the Emergency Surgical Center for Civilian War Victims on September 26, 2019 in Kabul, Afghanistan. She suffered multiple injuries in both legs and arm after a campaign rally attack on President Ghani in Parwan. In August, there were 455 admissions to the Emergency hospital, which is the highest in well over a decade. The overall civilian casualty figures are much higher in 2019 as well, besides the bloody attacks from the Taliban this also includes Afghan army operations and international forces as well. After 18 years of war, the Taliban control more of the country since 2001. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images )
U.S Military Sargent Jay Kenney, 26, (R) with Task Force Destiny, assists wounded Afghan National Army soldiers off a Blackhawk helicopter after they were rescued in an air mission in Kandahar.
December 12, 2010
Opytne, Eastern Ukraine: Mariya Gorpynych, age 76, lives alone. She holds new chicks delivered by ICRC as part of a humanitarian aid service for elderly that live alone. It also allows them to raise chickens for some income. She speaks with tears in her eyes when talking about the death of her son. Victor,48 was killed due to the war in 2016, he was fatally injured by shelling that hit the home. He died in her hands. Her husband, died in the same year from a heart attack from extreme stress of living too close to the front line. Mariya refuses to leave her village because her family are buried there."I have nowhere to flee, my whole family is buried here." "I got used to the continued shelling." Opytne is a war torn village on the contact line where only 43 people are left due to the dangers.
Donetsk, People's Republic (DPR) : Galina Mikhailovna , age 79, waits for customers at a second hand market in suffering during a cold winter day in February. She sells used goods that others give to her in the market for pensioners, sits in the snow with some street dogs. She has no pension, she never went to Ukraine to register, claims she can’t afford to travel to the other side every 57 days which is required by the government.
She is in debt so can’t afford to pay for heat and water in her apartment anymore.
Opytne: Donetsk region: Raisa Petrovna, 80 and her husband Stanislav Vasilyevich live in a village often caught in the crossfire between Ukrainian and Pro-Russian separatists, too close to the contact line. Raisa says that tanks were driving in front of their home in the first year of the war, now they have learned to live with the sound of shelling and gunfire daily. "We were sitting last home, screaming at them not to kill us!" Riasa said. " Her husband was injured twice by shrapnel, once in his abdomen, requiring surgery. He suffers from a hernia that keeps on growing. Stanislav suffers from dementia now along with his other medical issues. " I have to treat him as a child, I am so sorry that he is like this now, I am afraid to leave him even for a moment.;" Raisa stated. Their two sons live on the other side of the contact line unable to visit often because of the war. Their village, Opytne depends on humanitarian organizations to help the elderly who refuse to leave their homes and are trapped in a dangerous situation. After more than five years of war the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has a human toll that is staggering. The war has displaced more than 1.6 million with over 2,500 civilians killed and 9,000 injured. Some 200,000 people live under constant fear of shelling every day, with nearly a third of the 3.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance over 60 years of age. Ukraine has the highest proportion of elderly affected by war in the world.
PALONG KHALI, BANGLADESH - OCTOBER 9: Thousands of exhausted Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar walk along a muddy rice field after crossing the border in Palang Khali, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Well over 755,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh since late August during the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state causing a humanitarian crisis in the region with continued challenges for aid agencies.
PALONG KHALI, BANGLADESH - OCTOBER 16: A Rohingya girl cries, traumatized after days of walking, with little sleep, as refugees fleeing from Myanmar wait in the hot sun on a muddy rice field near Palang Khali, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Well over 750,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh since late August during the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state causing a humanitarian crisis in the region with continued challenges for aid agencies.
LESBOS, GREECE - OCTOBER 31: Refugees arriving to the island of Lesbos fall out of a boat as it capsizes landing in rough seas coming from Turkey on October 31, 2015 in Lesbos, Greece. Winter seas have done little to stem the endless flow of desperate people fleeing war or poverty trying to get to Europe. More than a million people reached Europe in 2015 in the continent's largest refugee influx since the end of World War II. Nearly all of those entering Greece on a boat from Turkey are from the war zones of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
YIDA REFUGEE CAMP, SOUTH SUDAN - JULY 3: New arrivals wait in long lines for hours to register with UNHCR at the Yida refugee camp along the border with North Sudan July 3, 2012 in Yida, South Sudan. Yida refugee camp grows by each day and now has swollen to well over 60,000, as the refugees flee from South Kordofan in North Sudan. The numbers of refugees arriving from north Sudan vary from 500 to 1,000 a day. Water has been a precious resource that aid agencies have struggled with. The rainy season has increased the numbers of sick children suffering from Diarrhea and severe malnutrition as the international aid community struggles to provide basic assistance to the growing population, most have arrived with only the clothes they are wearing. Many new arrivals walked from 5 days up to 2 weeks or more to reach the camp. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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Private Story
Anja award submission
Copyright
Paula Bronstein
2024
Updated Mar 2020
Topics
conflict
Over the years my extensive work in various conflict zones has taught me to be a dedicated humanitarian photographer, provoking change and raising awareness. Given the topics that I choose to cover my photography consistently demonstrates courage, commitment, and dedication working in physically demanding conditions. I adhere to a code of ethics, often depicting an unvarnished reality of life, this also reflects the values that Anja Niedringhaus represented. I knew Anja well, we covered many of the same hard-hitting news stories especially in Afghanistan where we both worked. Often I try to focus on under-reported stories that deal with the human, economic and political issues exposing the silent victims of conflict. My submission showcases a variety of work, also a topic that is close to my heart, looking at Afghanistan’s war wounded. In 2019, violence was at a record high with the brutal Taliban attacks. My last trip to Afghanistan was extremely difficult as I had to work under stress at a time when the threat level was high. Staying safe meant hiring an armored vehicle and a security guard. I wanted to include an image from my award-winning book, Afghanistan: Between Hope & Fear as this book certainly is one of my significant career achievements. Last year I worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the first time. The country has a brutal history where rape is commonly used as a weapon of war. I was both shocked and traumatized by documenting children as young as three years old, who were sexually abused. You will see one image from the Panzi hospital operation room where Balati, age 3, was about to undergo an operation to repair her vaginal area after being raped. I am sharing three images from my 2018-2019 grant project “Ukraine's War: Elderly Lives Frozen By Conflict”. Ukraine has the highest proportion of elderly affected by war in the world. My focus is the vulnerable, fragile elderly population trapped by a war that sees their lives frozen by conflict, impoverished, living in dilapidated homes. When it comes to war the elderly are rarely the focus so it was important for me to bring global attention to this issue. Mariya Gorpynych, seen holding one of her baby chicks was recently killed in a fire, sadly the firefighters had no access to her front line village of Opytne. In 2017, I covered the Rohingya refugee crisis as tens of thousands of refugees fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. This story proved to be one of the most demanding that I ever covered working in muddy rice paddies in the searing heat, the story of their suffering had to be exposed to the world. The result is that award-winning work has been exhibited in numerous countries and widely published. In 2015, I covered the refugee crisis as arriving to the island of Lesbos as more than a million people reached Europe in the continent's largest refugee influx since the end of World War II. I was on shores of Lesbos, Greece at the time when a boat capsized capturing the exact moment. Lastly, I wanted to show you an image from Yida refugee camp in South Sudan that I feel rounds out the kind of coverage I do.
