International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide & its significance in today’s Global Context The 7th of April marks the beginning of a hundred-day period which saw the murder of over one million people during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, East
Refugees will enrich places and make them better I didn’t think of leaving at the beginning of the war, I loved my home and had dreams of living there with my kids but when there was an explosion right next to my husband’s company,
The Gendered Representation of Refugees Weak. Vulnerable. Submissive. These are the words chosen by European media and politicians to represent refugee women and reinforce existing sexist representations. Despite constituting around 50% of refugees worldwide, women continue to
We don’t come here to get rich We used to visit Eritrea often and we never really had any problems but when we visited in 2011, as soon as we landed at the airport the Eritrean security forces arrested my husband. They didn’t tell
Refugees are seen either as criminals or saints. The bombing always happened at night and we used to hide in the bathroom because it was the safest place in our house. My parents slept on the floor, my brother in the bathtub and I
You become an object; your views are never in the media. I didn’t want to leave, I only agreed because I didn’t want my mother to suffer. She had to leave Afghanistan because of me and now I had to leave Pakistan because of
Genocide is happening now When Srebrenica fell, my father and I were chased down to the battery factory. There were trucks and buses waiting to transport us, and my father was taken away in front of me. The last time I saw him he
We need to highlight refugee contributions I was 12 years old when I found out I was a refugee. My parents fiercely protected us from being labelled refugees but after they separated, my siblings and I had to move in with my grandparents who
I have an identity and I matter WARNING: graphic images I was a refugee in my own country long before I became a refugee because of the conflict. I never knew my father and under Syrian law that meant I wasn’t eligible for an
Humanism is something we need to share I was 15 when my family and I had to leave Stolac, our hometown in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). I remember the first 6 months were very hard because I was away from home, with no friends
