Refugee Voices
This section of the website aims to provide a country-by-country overview of newspapers by refugee journalists and refugee organizations. Below find courses, the primary aim of which is to raise public awaeness of refugee issues.
Algeria
An irregular publication by refugees in camps is El-Mustaqbal es-Sahrawi/El Futuro Saharwi (“The Sahrawi Future”). It has been published in Arabic and Spanish up until at least November 2009 in the Polisario camps outside of Tindouf, Algeria. These camps are under the authority of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and people are living under extremely difficult conditions. While uncompromising in its support for self-determination in the Western Sahara, it has nonetheless offered serious criticism of the Polisario leadership and conditions in the camps.
El-Mustaqbal es-Sahrawi/El Futuro Saharwi was described by Afrol News as "the most incredible independent newspaper participating in the Afrol News network."
Bhutan / Nepal
The Bhutan Reporter newspaper and associated websites (www.apfanews.com, www.bhutannewsservice.com and www.radiobhutanonline.com) are produced and coordinated by Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.
Colombia / Ecuador
Israel
Refugee Voice is a non-profit newspaper providing information and a voice for the refugee community in Israel. Both refugees and Israelis currently contribute to and edit the paper.
Kenya
Kakuma Refugee Camp
The Kakuma News Reflector (KANERE) has been cited internationally for its ground-breaking work, struggling against an ongoing effort to suppress the voices of Kakuma's inhabitants in their own words. Since it's inception in October 2008, the idea of KANERE has been to establish a monthly system of news reporting, pooling the skills of journalists and writers in investigating and reporting on events around the camp. The first issue was produced in December 2008, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants hailed this example of refugee free press as an “invaluable resource” that “follows in the footsteps of many other civil and human rights efforts and empowers refugees to shape their own story and better inform and organize their community” (2009). The relationship between KANERE and the camp agencies grew tense over 2009, and KANERE’s attempt to register as a community-based organization was halted by local government officials who said they could not be registered until UNHCR “approved” the refugees’ operation of a free press. KANERE has a lawyer currently attempting to register KANERE in Kenya, but as of April 2010, is yet to gain registration. The Editor can be contacted by email at Kakuma [dot] news [at] gmail [dot] com (Kakuma.news[at]gmail.com).
The Kakuma News Bulletin (KANEBU) was a monthly publication by refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya. The Refugee Empowerment Network provides the host page for all the back issues, up until May 2007, when publication was halted. KANEBU provides an invaluable example of firsthand refugee journalism, and as such, became a perceived threat to the authorities and camp organisers which lead to it's halting. It is available at: http://home.r01.itscom.net/bethbell/ren-e.htm.
Dadaab Refugee Camp
Young refugee journalists published the first issue of The Refugee newsletter in September 2010, with support and training from Film Aid's Participatory Video Project in Dadaab Refugee Camp.
Posted on the Journeys and Star Gazing blog, you will find a unique account of life in Dadaab Refugee Camp from a resident, a view seldom heard of the true state of the camps, a 'voice for the voiceless' in Dadaab. Dadaab is the largest refugee camp in the world. Composed of three individual camps (Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley), it contains over 250,000 people and was established with the intended lifespan of only one to two years, but has grown in size and population ever since.
The Reconstruction Planning website contains a recent slide-show and profiling of the camp (October 2009).
Namibia
Osire Refugee Camp
Osire Refugee Camp is situated in rural Namibia, the nearest town more than 60 miles (95km) away. Originally a detention centre during South African apartheid, the refugee camp was established in 1992. MacGoddins Lushimba gives his recount of life in the camp on the Refugee Space Project website. The camp has produced subsequent refugee advocacy groups, whose very existence is continually challenged by the authorities of the camp and the Namibian government. In 2008, the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) wrote an Open Letter to UNHCR Namibia outlining the 'ADR Point of View over World Refugee Day-2008' which articulated a number of grievances the people living in Osire camp had with their situation.
Turkey
Refugee Voices is a journal dedicated to the views and voices of refugees living in Turkey and published with the support of the Refugee Advocacy and Support Program of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Turkey. In the Spring 2010 issue of Refugee Voices, we talk with a group of refugee community interpreters about their experiences helping refugees convey their stories and salute their hard work and devotion. The issue also profiles an Afghan artist who shares the life he left behind, a group of Iranian refugees in Eastern Turkey's Van who discuss their daily challenges, and young Sudanese refugees who describe their troubled home and share their dreams for a better future. It is available in English and Turkish.
United States
Refugee Space Project is a website run by ressettled refugees in the US to allow refugees to connect and share their experience. They print the experinces of refugees, especially where they have been let down by the services that they are entitled to in the US.
Courses for Raising Public Awareness of Refugee Issues
Reach Out Refugee Protection Training Project (Arabic, French, Spanish and English)
The Reach Out Refugee Protection Training Project was initiated in 2001 by NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement in collaboration with UNHCR in order to train humanitarian staff in the basics of refugee protection. The Project grew out of the Reach Out process initiated by UNHCR in 1997. The Project developed materials around the Protecting Refugees: A Field Guide for NGOs (1999) and, subsequently, trainings have been delivered around the world to field-based humanitarian staff.
The Reach Out Refugee Protection Training Kit provides a solid set of training materials on basic refugee protection, as well as providing an option module on internally displaced persons (IDPs). The materials have been improved in 2005, building on the experience gained over the life of this inter-agency project (2001-2005). The debates on protection have evolved considerably since the creation of Reach Out. This revised set of training materials reflects many of those debates and includes additions of new modules to better serve humanitarian staff. The Training Kit was developed in consultation with a wide range of humanitarian actors and will provide an important contribution to the humanitarian community's ability to better protect refugees.
The Project itself closed on 30 November 2005, leaving behind materials for use by humanitarian and human rights agencies to use and incorporate into their own training programmes and work.
Protecting Refugees Information Pack
The Protecting Refugees information pack is a joint initiative by the Council of Europe and the Office of the UNHCR.
This pack demonstrates not only the need to protect the rights of refugees, as millions continue to be forced from their homelands, but also the partnership between the Council of Europe and UNHCR and the role we can play, together, to help the refugees.
It covers a range of important topics, such as asylum-seekers and detention, refugees and social and economic inclusion, refugees and violence, and stateless persons.
Format : 10 x 21 cm, pack of 10 datasheets
To download the pack http://book.coe.int/ftp/3582.pdf