Tagged: Migrant and Refugee Crisis

Children on the move

A group of colorfully dressed girls and boys jump rope.

Children in emergencies

By Anthony Lake

Children on the move

Around the world today, there is a growing global ‘movement’ of children and adolescents – but not the kind of movement that generates many ‘likes’ on social media. It is a movement made up of 50 million children on the move. More than half of them have been forcibly displaced by conflict. Some are escaping violence and… Read more →←

Thwarted dreams and hidden talents

A young man stands, looking out a window.

Big picture

By UNICEF Connect

Thwarted dreams and hidden talents

Ousmane is 18 years old. He left his home in Guinea to try his luck with the desert crossing to Libya with dreams of getting to Italy by boat. Along the way, he faced hunger, beatings, and bandits. I lost my parents when I was 10 years old. When I lost my parents, my close family let me down, that’s why I decided to leave. After a… Read more →←

Write 2 Unite: A digital intercultural dialogue

A group of people in a classroom.

Insider

By Mischa Liatowitsch

Write 2 Unite: A digital intercultural dialogue

In 2015, the migrant and refugee crisis shook the world. Public discourse on the topic has remained charged ever since. Refugee host countries seem divided. Discussions remain emotional and binary – two camps, two stances on the issue: #RefugeesWelcome or #RefugeesGoHome. There is little room for constructive debate – everyone talks,… Read more →←

“I’d be a superhero…” Sajad Al-Faraji: after Iraq

Sajad applies for asylum.

Children in emergencies

By Ashley Gilbertson

“I’d be a superhero…” Sajad Al-Faraji: after Iraq

Presevo, Serbia, November 2015   “I don’t have any hope, I was born without hope,” says Sajad Al-Faraji, a 15-year-old boy traveling from Basra, Iraq. Sajad is with his older sister, younger brother and his mother on his way to a train station that’s exclusively serving refugees in southern Serbia. I’m on assignment for… Read more →←

Remember them all: A portrait of Aya

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By Ben Schumaker

Story also available in: 中文

Remember them all: A portrait of Aya

Our small nonprofit, the Memory Project, has been organizing high school art students to create portraits for children in vulnerable situations for a dozen years. The Memory Project gathers photos of children and sends them to art students in US high schools who study the photos to create drawings and paintings which are then delivered,… Read more →←

A Syrian refugee is the first student in three generations

Big picture

By Atif Khurshid

Story also available in: العربية

A Syrian refugee is the first student in three generations

Last week I was welcomed by Sidra’s family into their home in Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Her family fled the conflict in Syria in late 2013. Sidra lives with her parents, grandparents, two uncles and their families, one aunt, and six siblings. The three-room house is unfinished, with unpainted walls, no locks and only one… Read more →←

The sun rises from the rubble: Syrian children’s journey of hope

A close up of a girl singing with her eyes closed.

Children in emergencies

By Yasmine Saker

Story also available in: العربية Español

The sun rises from the rubble: Syrian children’s journey of hope

“Mother, this area has a nice echo…” said 10 year-old Ansam when she reached a destroyed town in rural Damascus that serves as the shocking backdrop of our music video marking six years of a horrifying conflict in Syria. I first met Ansam when she walked onto the stage of the Damascus Opera house last December, with so much… Read more →←

Trapped: Inside Libya’s detention centres

Insider

By Francesca Mannocchi

Story also available in: العربية Français

Trapped: Inside Libya’s detention centres

Every day, thousands of people travel from the hinterlands of Africa and the Middle East, across the Sahara to Libya – the entry point to the Mediterranean Sea. They flee war, violence and poverty. Thousands die along the way or endure exploitation, abuse, violence and detention in the hope of reaching Europe and a better life. Italian… Read more →←

Turkey in the time of Syrian refugees

طفلتان صغيرتان في نافذة، إحداهما تلوّح

Experts speak

By Justin Forsyth

Story also available in: العربية

Turkey in the time of Syrian refugees

I recently traveled to Gaziantep in southern Turkey, close to the Syrian border, because I wanted to see the situation for refugee children first-hand. Turkey is carrying a huge burden, helping with what is now the biggest refugee population in the world: nearly 2.8 million Syrian refugees, of which 1.2 million are child refugees.… Read more →←

“We can’t go home, so we need to send our children to school.”

A woman stands with her family.

Children in emergencies

By Chris Niles

Story also available in: Français

“We can’t go home, so we need to send our children to school.”

The village of Hasansham, which until a few months ago was the scene of heavy fighting, has a surreal quality. It’s situated in a beautiful, seemingly tranquil river valley; one that’s dotted by stark stone outcrops. The houses are either a drab sandy colour, or bare concrete. As such, they blend with the arid countryside, so it’s… Read more →←