Today in assembly, we were learning about the plight of the Rohingya people of Myanmar (Burma).
The Rohingya people are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. This means they are restricted from freedom of movement (they require government permission to travel within, and outside of, the country), from state education and from jobs in the civil service.
We learned about a teacher who has been imprisoned for travelling within the country without government permission, and about two journalists who have been imprisoned for seven years for reporting on government killings of the Rohingya.
We thought about how this connects to our right of the month - Article 2 - "The Convention applies to every child without discrimination, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status, whatever they think or say, whatever their family background."
We also discussed how we could make a difference for these people who are being denied their rights. We decided we could write letters, or draw pictures, for these political prisoners to show them that people are hearing of their plight and that they have not been forgotten.
Some pupils have also written to the Myanmar government to call for the release of these prisoners.
If you would like to find out more about this campaign, visit burmacampaign.org.uk.
