World Refugee Day: The search for a land of freedom
Every day, people around the world make the difficult decision to leave their countries in search of safety and better lives. Forced to flee their home because of war, violence or persecution, often w
Riot police officers clash with refugees headed to Northern Europe outside a camp in the town of Diavata in northern Greece. The EU reached a deal with Turkey in 2016 that saw a decrease in the number of people crossing over to Greece. Under the deal, anyone who arrives on Greek islands must be returned to Turkey unless they qualify for asylum. In recent months, the campaign group Human R
Image by Alexandros Avramidis / Reuters
2/12
Costa Ricans march in San Jose in protest against the arrival of Nicaraguan refugees who fled from unrest in their country. This decade is marked by the vociferous rise to power of the Far Right political parties and the resurgence of nationalism in many countries in EU and elsewhere. Citizens across the European countries surveyed believe their country should allow fewer immigrants into
Image by Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters
3/12
Migrants and locals are invited to partake of a meal on a 270-meter long table in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The initiative, called ‘Italian Dinner without Walls’ is intended to send out a message of solidarity and inclusion to the nation. Italy’s populist government has repeatedly declared Italian waters closed to NGO rescue vessels. As a result, several boats have been lef
Image by Simona Granati - Corbis//Getty Images
4/12
A view of Zaatari refugee camp in north Jordan. The past two years have witnessed a new form of manipulation by refugee-hosting countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. They adopt policies to extract revenue from western countries and organisations to maintain refugees within its borders. Turkey was able to secure an unprecedented sum of 6 billion euros in 2016, as well as other conc
Image by Valery SharifulinTASS via Getty Images
5/12
A Venezuelan family from Aragua state poses for a picture after they obtained refugee status or temporary residence, through the Federal Police and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the Pacaraima border control, Roraima state, Brazil. More than 4 million Venezuelans suffering from political chaos, food shortages and hyperinflation have left the country. Mostly
Image by Nacho Doce /Reuters
6/12
Twenty-five-year-old Afghani refugee Qudratullah Hotak trains with Germans at the training workshop of Ford Motor Co in Cologne, Germany. He was one among a few chosen for Ford Germany"s Equipment Qualification (EQ) programme, which integrates migrants in a booming labour market. Germany spent a record 23 billion euros ($25.65 billion) last year on helping to integrate more than 1 million
Image by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
7/12
As an act of protest against the US regime’s ‘purposefully’ cruel family separations, immigrant rights advocates in the US put up two dozen startling art installations in carefully chosen landmark locations, featuring a chain-link cage, a foil-wrapped "child," and harrowing audio of real-life kids sobbing. It called for an end to the suffering of over 3,000 migrant children who remain pen
Image by Spencer Platt /Getty Images
8/12
A businessman flips through a newspaper at a cafe during the morning rush-hour in London. Britain’s 3.7 million EU citizens have begun applying for ‘settled status’ to remain in the country after Brexit. Potentially, tens of thousands of vulnerable EU citizens, without help, may risk not securing their status. The migrants most affected by Brexit will be Europeans—those living in the UK o
Image by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images
9/12
Protesters march to the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong, calling on Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign, after flooding the streets for days, protesting against the city’s proposed extradition treaty with mainland China. The reason: If the bill becomes law, it can be misused by Chinese allies to extradite political refugees. And there are many in Hong Kong.
Image by Dickson Lee/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
10/12
Rohingya refugees construct reinforcements to prevent landslides ahead of the monsoon season at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Claiming to conduct a “clearance operation” to rid the country of militants, the Myanmar military killed thousands of Rohingya civilians, raped hundreds of Rohingya women and girls and burnt entire villages to the ground in 2017. In reality, they are s
