Soccer player Makoto Hasebe—who serves as Japan’s national UNICEF goodwill ambassador—visited a Rohingya refugee camp, in southern Bangladesh, on Thursday, to call for greater attention to the refugees’ plight.
Makoto Hasebe, the #Japanese soccer player who serves as #Japan's national #UNICEF goodwill ambassador, visited a Muslim #Rohingya refugee camp in southern #Bangladesh to call greater attention to the refugees' plight. pic.twitter.com/xDUe5CTGHq
— Aamal Rahman (@AamalRahman) June 7, 2019
At a press briefing in Dhaka following his visit, the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder lamented that children at the camp on the border with Myanmar—a country from where the UN refugee agency says more than 720,000 Rohingya have fled since August 2017—are deprived of proper education and medical facilities, reports The Japan Times.
#Rohingya football superstars face off against UNICEF Japan Ambassador Makoto Hasebe in the refugee camps in Bangladesh ??
— Mr.Saddam Hussein (@SaddamH57747037) June 7, 2019
Thank you @tdh_ch and @unhcr_bgd for hosting this game ??#AChildIsAChild pic.twitter.com/1bsPiYRl9w
Earlier in the day, the former Japan captain played soccer with Rohingya children on a muddy field at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar; one of the largest camps of its kind, where roughly 600,000 refugees live.
And he scores!
— UNICEF Bangladesh (@UNICEFBD) June 6, 2019
?: UNICEF Japan Ambassador Makoto Hasebe plays a game of football with #Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh.#AChildIsAChild pic.twitter.com/HL6rzqmD7f
Hasebe, who also visited a Syrian refugee camp in Greece, in November—as the goodwill ambassador of the Japan Committee for the UN Children’s Fund—told reporters that he was surprised by the scale of refugee concentration in Cox’s Bazar.
Hasebe said he wants to urge the world community to tackle the refugee problem and solve it as soon as possible.
Japanese football player laments that children in the #Rohingya #refugee camps are “deprived of” proper education and medical facilities. #Bangladesh https://t.co/lIaCYxmdFt
— Shafiur Rahman (@shafiur) June 7, 2019
The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Many fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, starting in August 2017, to escape a military crackdown in the Southeast Asian country.
Many fear for their safety if they were to return as part of a stalled repatriation process – agreed to between Myanmar and Bangladesh late last year.
