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Read Malala Yousafzai’s Statement on Aleppo: ‘Prayers Are Not Enough. We Must Act’

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Malala Yousafzai speaks at Denver school
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai speaks at Denver South High School Friday, October 21, 2016.RJ Sangosti—Denver Post via Getty Images
By Mahita Gajanan

Education activist Malala Yousafzai called reports of atrocities against civilians in Aleppo, committed by pro-Syrian government forces, “the worst of our past repeating itself.”

“When I look at Syria, I see the Rwandan genocide,” she said in a statement shared on the Malala Fund’s Facebook page on Wednesday. “When I see the desperate words of Bana Alabed in Aleppo, I see Anne Frank in Amsterdam.”

The U.N. reported on Tuesday that 82 civilians were killed in Aleppo by advancing pro-Assad troops ready to recapture the city. An emergency U.N. meeting was called on Tuesday amid reports of the executions of civilians. “To the children under siege in Aleppo, I pray that you will get out safely,” Yousafzai said. “I pray that you will grow up strong, go to school and see peace in your country some day.”

 

Here’s Yousafzai’s full statement:

Today I feel as though I’m watching the worst of our past repeat itself.

When I look at Syria, I see the Rwandan genocide. When I read the desperate words of Bana Alabed in Aleppo, I see Anne Frank in Amsterdam.

History shows us the same children suffering, the ones we always say we surely would have helped, if only we had been there. But history does not fall from the sky, it is us who make it.

To the children under siege in Aleppo, I pray that you will get out safely. I pray that you will grow up strong, go to school and see peace in your country some day.

But prayers are not enough. We must act. The international community must do everything they can to end to this inhumane war. The Syrian regime must give safe passage to people who want to leave and allow aid workers into Aleppo to save as many lives as they can.

May God be with the children of Aleppo, even if our world leaders are not.

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Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com