Plight of the children

Actress and Unicef ambassador calls for compassion during visit to Bangladeshi camps

Indian actress Priyanka Chopra calls for compassion as she visits Rohingya kids in Bangladesh.

DHAKA: Priyanka Chopra, actress and a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations’ children’s agency, said the world should be more compassionate to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children who desperately need help in Bangladeshi camps where they’ve been sheltered.

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since late August to escape military-led violence and are now seeking UN protection to return home.

Almost 60% of the total refugees are children, and 60 babies are being born every day in camps in Bangladesh.

Many children crossed the border into Bangladesh without a parent, according to Unicef. They saw violence, dead bodies, burned homes while many saw their parents and family members killed in front of their eyes and their mothers and sisters raped. Children were also shot in their hands and legs. Many are recovering from psychological trauma.

Chopra, who came to Bangladesh directly from London after attending the royal wedding of her American friend Meghan Markle on a four-day visit, visited camps in Cox’s Bazar bordering Myanmar and passed time with the desperate children at safe homes, makeshift schools and helped them draw pictures of sunshine and hope.

On Thursday, during a press conference and a subsequent interview, she refused to answer any questions beyond children’s welfare in the camps and beyond.

She recognised the Rohingya refugee crisis is a “political crisis” but would not talk beyond her mandate as a goodwill ambassador of Unicef.

“I’m here on behalf of children. I’m too small, I feel, to speak about a political situation like this. I’m not someone who believes in a blame game. I think that creates more hatreds and animosities,” the former Miss World said.

Chopra, whose third Hollywood film is expected to be released on Valentine’s Day next February, said she was overwhelmed to see the condition of the children in the camps she visited.

“Open your heart to the children,” Chopra, a star in India’s Hindi films, urged the world community in the interview. “Be compassionate for the sake of humanity,” she said.

During her visit to the camps, Chopra saw children being screened for malnutrition, a statement by Unicef said. With 163,295 children less than five years old living in the camps, Unicef ’s nutrition centres offer a vital lifeline by screening and treating children for malnourishment and teaching new mothers breastfeeding practices to help make sure their babies have the best possible start in life, it said.

She said the international community was working to support the children, but that is not enough.

“Please don’t divide children, they are future citizens of the world we live in,” she said.

“No matter where a child is from or what his or her circumstances are, every child is the future of this world,” she said. — AP