Rohingya children under threat: Child journalists’ take

Child journalists have joined a discussion on the 300,000 Rohingya children fleeing persecution in Myanmar and taking shelter in Bangladesh to discuss the situation in the refugee camps, the challenges faced by these children, and the steps the government and international organisations should take to overcome the crisis.

Senior Correspondent from Cox’s Bazarbdnews24.com
Published : 19 Nov 2017, 08:35 AM
Updated : 19 Nov 2017, 06:38 PM

The world’s first dedicated Bangla news website for children, ‘Hello’, organised the discussion, Rohingya Children Under Threat, at Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday, with support from UN children’s agency UNICEF.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi moderated the event. UNICEF spokesperson Sakil Faizullah also took part in the discussion.

Twenty child journalists made up the remaining panellists. The group visited Cox’s Bazar’s Balukhali and Kutupalong refugee camps on Saturday to see the situation faced by Rohingya children first-hand. They also captured their words and their hardships on video.

The discussion was broadcast live on bdnews24.com and on bdnews24.com’s Facebook page.

Monday is Universal Children’s Day. The Rohingya crisis is being discussed worldwide. Most of the refugees in Cox’s Bazar are children.

“We have organised this event because we want to understand the perspective of children on the crisis and hear their thoughts,” Hello Executive Editor Mujtaba Hakim Plato had said.

The Myanmar military launched a crackdown in the border state of Rakhine on Aug 25, forcing nearly 600,000 Rohingyas to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

According to UNICEF, nearly 58 percent of these refugees are children, many of whom are severely malnourished.

These children fled their homeland and have undergone physical and mental trauma before arriving in Bangladesh. Due to a safe drinking water crisis, they are facing risks of infectious diseases.

The nine girls and 11 boys taking part in the discussion are students from various educational institutions in Cox’s Bazar, Plato said. The group received training in children’s journalism, video production and reporting at the Royal Tulip resort on Friday.

“They were then taken to the Rohingya camps to see the situation for themselves and understand its gravity. Today, we will hear about their experiences and opinions.”

Hello, which produces stories by children for children, was launched on Mar 31, 2013. Children and adolescents are involved in every step of the process, from news gathering to distribution.

Hello is the result of a joint initiative between Bangladesh’s largest news publisher bdnews24.com and UNICEF.

Children under the age of 17 are trained in journalism to reflect children’s opinions and aspirations in mainstream media.

Thus far over 7,000 children and teenagers have worked with Hello, Plato said.