Priyanka on Rohingyas: ‘Please be sympathetic and treat these children as your own’

DHAKA: UNICEF Global Goodwill Ambassador and Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra on Thursday called upon the global communities to come forward extending all-out assistance to the Rohingyas living in vulnerable camps in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh.

Speaking at a press conference, Priyanka urged the global community, “Open your hearts with compassion. Please be sympathetic and treat these [Rohingya] children as your own.”

She was concerned about the possibility of a “generation loss” of a particular ethnicity and said that the world will have to take the responsibility of the Rohingya children

“Do we need anymore [violence]?… the only thing I can see is a generation of children who don’t have education, healthcare and who will be vulnerable to violence,” Priyanka told a packed room at Le Meridien Dhaka hotel.

“The refugee children are the world’s responsibility. Because they don’t have anywhere to go, they don’t have anyone to call their own.”

Appreciating Bangladesh, particularly Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for taking the burden of sheltering over one million displaced Rohingyas, Priyanka said the world should learn from Bangladesh how to stand beside the distressed humanity.

Sharing an example of her experience of visiting the Rohingya camps last year, Priyanka said, “I found one kind of healing inside the Rohingya children.”

“Earlier, when I visited the Rohingya camps I asked the children to draw a picture, and they responded with drawing pictures of arms, gunfire and mortar shells from roving helicopters. But this time when I told them to do the same, they drew pictures of sun, animals and nature,” she said.

“It’s a testimony of their inside healing and it could be possible due to your motherly shelter and security,” Priyanka told the Prime Minister.