The children’s TV show Sesame Street unveiled its first Rohingya Muppets to help thousands of refugee children overcome trauma and address the impact of coronavirus in Bangladesh’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh.
The six-year-old twins Noor and Aziz Yasmin will participate alongside celebrities, such as Elmo and Louie, in Rohingya educational videos in the camps, according to Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind the show.
“Noor and Aziz are at the heart of our efforts to bring early education … to children and caregivers … severely affected by the dual relocation crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Sherrie Westin, president of social impact at Sesame Workshop. .
“For most children, Rohingya, Noor and Aziz will be the first media characters to look and sound like them … [they] it will bring the transformative power of playful learning to families at a time when it is needed more than ever. “
According to UN figures, children make up more than half of the approximately 730,000 Rohingya who arrived in Bangladesh in 2017 after a mass exodus from Myanmar and now live in camps in Cox’s Bazaar.
Earlier this year, aid agencies said the risks of marriage and child trafficking had increased in the camps as camp activities were reduced and youth services were closed in the midst of the pandemic.
Described as the most persecuted people in the world, 1.1 million Rohingya live in Myanmar. They live predominantly in Rakhine State, where they have coexisted uneasily with Buddhists for decades.
Rohingya people say they are descendants of Muslims, perhaps Persian and Arab traders, who came to Myanmar generations ago. Unlike the Buddhist community, they speak a language similar to the Bengali Chittagong dialect of Bangladesh.
The Rohingya are offended by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants and suffer from systematic discrimination. The Myanmar government treats them as stateless, denying them citizenship. Strict restrictions have been placed on the freedom of movement of the Rohingya people, access to health care, education and other basic services.
Violence broke out in northern Rakhine State in August 2017, when militants attacked government forces. In response, security forces backed by the Buddhist militia launched a “removal operation” that eventually killed at least 1,000 people and forced more than 600,000 to flee their homes. A senior UN human rights official said the military’s response was “clearly disproportionate” to insurgent attacks and warned that Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya minority appeared to be an “example of a manual” of ethnic cleansing.
When Aung San Suu Kyi came to power, there was high hope that the Nobel Peace Prize winner would help heal Myanmar’s deep-rooted ethnic divisions. But she was accused of standing while committing violence against the Rohingya.
In 2019, judges at the international criminal court authorized a large-scale investigation into allegations of mass persecution and crimes against humanity. On December 10, 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague opened a case alleging the genocide brought by The Gambia.
Rebecca Ratcliffe
Sesame Workshop described Noor as a passionate and curious girl who loves to invent funny new rules for games, while her brother is a storyteller whose creativity can sometimes distract him from his tasks. daily.
Brac, a Bangladeshi NGO and program partner, said the video segments would begin soon. “This will definitely help Rohingya children stay connected to their roots,” said Brac spokeswoman Hasina Akhter.