Gigi Hadid chokes up while discussing emotional visit to Rohingya refugee camp

‘Most of us have the true gift of identity’

Gigi Hadid has spoken out about her recent visit to a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

"Even with their lives in limbo, these women and girls had such desire to do more, to be more and to get educated to better their lives," the 23-year-old model told the Power of Women event organised by Variety magazine.

Hadid visited the Jamtoli Refugee Camp with Unicef last August.

Asked how Unicef could help them in different ways, she said the camp's residents told her it "really boiled down to" having an identity.

Hadid, who was named International Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council in 2016, became visibly emotional as she spoke about the connection she forged with the refugees whom she met.

"Although there were definitely moments of joy, of sitting, laughing, playing games and having a human connection with the refugees, I couldn’t help but continue to think about those women and what they said," she recalled.

"At the end of the trip, I went home, and they were still there."

She said that while donating to charity is important, and "genuinely does save lives and help people", the refugees she met wanted to inform the world of their desire for an identity.

"They are human beings like all of us, and what they would do for a citizenship, for an identity," she added. "Most of us have the true gift of identity and the power to express ourselves, the power to speak out for those who cannot for themselves and the power to uplift one another."

Following her trip last summer, Hadid joined forces with fellow model and Unicef ambassador Halima Aden to launch a CrowdRise page in support of Unicef's work to protect vulnerable children around the world.