The thing refugees need above all is a lasting, long-term solution. Without this, they have no real hope of rebuilding their lives.
Imagine: you’re forced to flee your home and escape to another country. There, you are recognized as a refugee by either the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, or the local authorities. But you still face threats, abuses like sexual violence, or problems getting life-saving medical treatment.
UNHCR will decide if you urgently need protection in another country. This is called resettlement. Canada, for example, opened its doors to 25,000 Syrian refugees between November 2015 and February 2016. Every single one reached their new home country in the only obvious way: by plane.
But unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of refugees who qualify for resettlement have actually received that all-important call saying they can move abroad.
That’s because very few countries have followed Canada’s example and offered up enough places to make a real difference. To save lives and stop people suffering, Amnesty is calling on governments to massively increase resettlement.
Governments can also open up other ways for people to reach safety, such as the Syrian refugee crisis. They include:
- Academic scholarships and study visas, allowing refugees to start or carry on studying.
- Work visas offering professionals the chance to get a job abroad.
- Medical visas to help someone with a serious condition get life-saving treatment.
- Family reunification – this means refugees can join close relatives already living abroad.
- Community sponsorship involving private individuals, communities or organizations taking the responsibility for helping to settle and integrate refugees in their communities.
Amnesty International is working tirelessly to ensure that governments around the world do their fair share to resettle refugees, or help them find a long-term place of safety. But to do this, we need your help.
Please donate now so we can continue to put pressure on your government, and others around the world, to support refugees.
Your money will make a difference. Last year, Amnesty International was one of the key players in preventing the closure of Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, in Kenya. The camp’s closure would have meant that the 260,000 Somali refugees there would have been forced to go back to Somalia, which is not safe.
The camp did not close in the end, but there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the refugees there can find a lasting solution and a safe place to live in the long term.
Please donate now to help support our work around the world.
Thank you very much.
