‘When I Grow Up’ – Rohingya children’s artworks on display in Dhaka exhibition

The artworks of the Rohingya children depicting their aspirations are on display in Dhaka to draw world attention.

Amnesty International launched the "When I Grow Up" five-day exhibition of selected works of art by 160 Rohingya children on World Refugee Day on June 20.

The rights group said the exhibition, supported by UNICEF and EMK Center, is the outcome of a two-day art camp in Cox's Bazar with the Rohingya children, who with the help of six cartoonists, sketched what they wish to be when they grow up.

Representatives of foreign missions, donors and UN agencies attended the inaugural event at the Exhibition Space of EMK Center, Dhanmondi.

The art camp and exhibition are part of Amnesty International's campaign to increase local and international support for the education of Rohingya children.

“That follows an accredited curriculum that would be globally acceptable, so that the children can practically apply the knowledge they acquire in different settings,” Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International, said.

“The works of art produced at the exhibition are a reflection of the creative minds of the children who are growing up in the least favourable conditions for a child.”

“We have seen that many Rohingya children wish to become teachers and doctors based on very practical needs that they have experienced in the camps.

“Many have shared about disease outbreaks that doctors have helped prevent in the camps and they wish to help others when they grow up," he said.

“Childhood is the most formative period in the life of a person. We all have a responsibility to afford these children the opportunity to chase their dreams”.

Close to one third of the over 300,000 children aged 4 years to 14 years do not have access to education and the remainder have access to informal education in the refugee camps.

Bangladesh has been urging the international community to push Myanmar to create conducive environment for the return of the Rohingyas so that their children get normal life to grow.

Foreign Ministry’s Director General of the United Nations Wing Nahida Sobhan reminded the international community about their duties during the inauguration of the exhibition.

"The Rohingya children have lost out on their future three to four years back when the Myanmar authorities started stopping them from entering into formal education in the Northern Rakhine state”.

In that aspect, she said the international community has failed to do anything, when they were still in their homeland.

“What we are trying to do today should have been done three years back in the Northern Rakhine state. I am looking more at UN. UN had a big role there, which we didn't see...That is a bit frustrating for us as a country hosting such huge number of traumatised, persecuted people,” she lamented.

“When we are talking about this kind of initiative, when we are talking about education and how they need to grow up, instead of looking into these issues as stopgap solutions we need to look into the root cause and try to build upon a solution at the root of the whole problem.

“We need to ensure their return with dignity and their rights back to the place from where they came, the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar,” she said.

The Amnesty International said they would take the works of art by the Rohingya children to other countries to campaign for increased international support to Bangladesh for their education.