UN: defend refugees from war π We Need Peace
Human tragedy overwhelming our world's humanitarian agencies & our hearts
Hoping that you are surviving the overwhelming sense of human tragedy sweeping over all of us, with a toxic stew of psychological war, conspiracy cults, authoritarian violence threatening our futures. Be sure to shelter you & your family from too much exposure to the graphic & terroristic propaganda, which can cause despair & hopelessness, one of its objectives. We struggle to keep a connection to our humanity, our shared fate on this wounded world, to reach out to our better angels.
Not going to focus here on exposing the corruption of industrial war, the sickness & chronic PTSD of surviving in societies suffering generations of abuse by psychopathic cults of corruption, which result in terror & war⦠today I will give this space to:
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. Wikipedia
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: December 14, 1950
https://www.unhcr.org/us/get-involved
The latest from the United Nations
United Nations
October 14, 2023
The escalating conflict in the Middle East dominated the headlines and the work of the United Nations over the past week.Β
Throughout the crisis, UN Secretary-General AntΓ³nio Guterres has repeatedly spoken out about the need to protect all civilians and minimize the loss of life. On Friday, he shared his perspective on the devastating events unfolding, in an opinion essay.
We have approached a moment of calamitous escalation, and find ourselves at a critical crossroads. It is imperative that all parties β and those with influence over them β do everything possible to avoid fresh violence or spillover of the conflict to the West Bank and the wider region.
Clearly, the grievances felt by the Palestinian people do not justify the terror that was unleashed against civilians in Israel. I once again utterly condemn the abhorrent attacks by Hamas and others that terrorized Israel.
And clearly, the horrific acts by Hamas do not justify responding with collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
But any solution to this tragic, decades-long ordeal of death and destruction requires full recognition of the circumstances of both Israelis and Palestinians, of both their realities and both their perspectives.
We cannot ignore the power and the pull of collective memory; the circumstances that shape and define our identity and our very essence.Β
This horrifying cycle of ever-escalating violence and bloodshed must end. It is clear that the two sides in this conflict cannot achieve a solution without concerted action and strong support from us, the international community. That is the only way to save any chance of security and opportunity for both Israelis and Palestinians.
You can read the entirety of the Secretary-Generalβs opinion piece, published by the New York Times.Β
You can also stay updated on the latest developments from the Middle East by following the UNβs page on LinkedIn and gain further insights and perspectives from UN Secretary-General AntΓ³nio Guterresβ LinkedIn account.
Behind-the-Scenes: bringing refugee stories to light on social media
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
October 13, 2023
Protecting refugees means making sure they're safe, have opportunities and can thrive in their temporary homes. But it's so much more than that. UNHCR's work also means bringing refugee stories to the world. That's where social media officers like Ilaria Rapido come in. Ilaria's day-to-day involves making sure UNHCR and the forcibly displaced people we work with are front and center when you're scrolling through your social media feeds. It's her job to help generate empathy, support and make sure that we're putting refugees first in our communications that land on your smartphone and computer screens.
Welcome to "Humanitarians at Work",Β UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency's new biweekly newsletter where we share motivations, challenges and advice from staff working in the humanitarian sector.Β If you would like an exclusive sneak peek into the lives of humanitarian workers and tips on how to enter the sector, pleaseΒ subscribe.
In this edition, weβre chatting with our colleague Ilaria about her work as an Associate Social Media Officer in Panama. There she manages all global social media channels in Spanish. While her initial dream wasn't of being a humanitarian, she's found a home at UNHCR communicating with people around the world about the refugee cause.
Ready? Let's begin!
Β πΉ Discover a day in the life of a UNHCR Social Media Officer. Watch his #JobIn30Seconds video now:
Creative. Challenging. Fun.
I didn't think when I was studying that I was going to become a humanitarian. It was not this dream that I had. But when I was studying journalism, I started to be interested in topics related to displacement every day. I remember being at university and doing assignments I'd have to turn in to my teacher and at the end of the day they were about displacement, and migration, and internal displacement, so I started thinking that this was a topic I liked a lot. And so when I finished university, I started to apply for some positions. I was already interested in UNHCR. I liked what the organisation stood for and I felt very close to UNHCR's mandate. That's how I began my career here and became a humanitarian. But it wasn't a childhood dream or something like that. Just being in contact with issues around displacement, not only in Ecuador where I was living, but also in Italy where my family is right now β that made me become more passionate about it. It's a little bit because of my sister too. She's older than me and she started to study human rights. She'd always talk about it and so I think I became more passionate about human rights and eventually added to my decision to pursue being a humanitarian.
It's interesting because every day is a bit different, but in general a typical day starts with getting to the office and reviewing our communications priorities. What is going on both in and outside the region that we want to communicate about? We also look at all of the ideas that colleagues in the field are proposing for us to speak about and try to find the best way to communicate certain things in our social media. This basically means overseeing everything that UNHCR is going to publish on social media in Spanish.
A day in the life could be developing a script for TikTok or Instagram reels, doing video editing or making a graphic for social. But is could also include working with communications teams to brainstorm what we're going to do for World Refugee Day or for International Womens Day.
My day also includes going through our own social media, seeing what's happening, how people are reacting to the products we're publishing everyday. What's working? What's not working? Are there any trends we should be bring our messages to? And finally, seeing if there are any communications crises going on on social media and looking for false information that we have to take care of. It's a very busy day, but I enjoy it.
Of course there are a lot of things that we produce to manage the social media channels, but the thing I enjoy the most is being in contact with refugees and working on social content with them. So when I actually get to go on mission to develop content with them or over the phone. The most rewarding part is when we share the content with them and they're proud of it. They pass it on to their families. They feel represented. So that's the most rewarding part of my job.
The most challenging part of my job is that social media is changing everyday. So when you think you have the trend of what's going on, it changes again. It's really hard to change the way of doing things and change how you produce things everyday. The search for new trends and staying up to date on best practices is hard because things change so quickly.
The other biggest challenge is disconnecting from work. For me personally, outside of work, I'm exposed to social media like anyone else. So on the weekend or even during holidays, I can't help but thinking 'I can use this for work' or checking on how our social media channels are doing. It's something you have in your hand all the time so disconnecting from daily work is a real challenge.
I remember a recent one from the beginning of the year. I went on mission to Colombia with Helena Christensen, the Goodwill Ambassador. We went to this remote indigenous community about an hour and a half by boat. We were talking about how climate change has affected these communities and how the water levels in the river get so low that people can't travel by boat. That means these indigenous communities can't fish or go out to find food or go to the doctor. That's a problem. They're already suffering during an armed conflict. They're confined in their territories and can't leave, or they've been forced to flee to different places inside their country. And so we were visiting one of these communities and we had a photography workshop with Helena Christensen and we wanted one of the young people who were participating in the workshop to tell us how they felt about climate change in general. We had an idea of what they would say, and at the beginning it was hard. These people had never met us and they were slow to open.
That's where we met Yaquenia. She was very shy at first, but then I remember we started to take pictures. We gave her one of our cameras and she started to take these wonderful pictures. I don't have any pictures of myself at work. I'm usually always the one behind the camera. But then she gave us the camera back and later we reviewed the photos. The photos she took were amazing of both UNHCR working and her community. I wanted to make sure we got her and her parents' consent after, so I went house by house to see which one was her's because I didn't know where she lived. After I finally found her and spoke with her parents, Yaquenia opened up and started to tell us about the river. Sometimes it was very dirty and every year the sun felt hotter and hotter. Without any prompts or without asking, she was speaking about the topic we wanted to know about. We were able to tell the story of her and her community on social in a way that she was most comfortable with.
After a while Yaquenia said she had to go to her soccer match and asked me if I wanted to go. I remember finishing the day with watching her and these girls playing soccer and it was the perfect end to the day. It was one of the greatest that I've had in this role.
The first one is to have an open mind about what "humanitarian" mean. Sometimes when we think about that word, at least for myself, I think about emergency response, being in the field and lifesaving tasks in a crisis situation. But there are many ways of being a humanitarian worker and communications is one of them. My advice would be to see communications as a fundamental part of UNHCR's mandate to protect. Communications can also save lives.
The second piece of advice would be to follow us on social media. Honestly, if you want to work in humanitarian communications, it's very important to know what's happening around the world and within different humanitarian organisations. A big way to stay on top of that is through social. I'm not trying to advertise our social media, but it's still solid advice.
First of all, I love to read. Usually when I'm tired of being in front of a screen, because that's our reality for more than eight hours a day, I like to disconnect from the screen and pick up a book. And I never thought I would say this, but over the past couple of years, I love to just take care of my house to relax. Taking care of plants and decorating my home are great ways to relax for me. A few months ago I painted a wall just because it felt good. I also like to hang out with friends that I've met here. Being outside of my country of origin, I can't be with my family, my mom, dad, cousins and everything. And so I've made a lot of friends, many of them who also work at UNHCR. So on the weekends, I'll hang out with them or maybe go to the beach. The final thing I do to relax is play board games. I'm very competitive and so I love playing games. I'm not sure if others playing the games would agree that it's relaxing, but I love it.
In terms of mental health, for me that means being able to disconnect from work and knowing how to do that. As I said before, it will be the end of the day, but then you go home and you see something on the news about displacement. Then you go to social media and you see it again. So it really helps me to make the decision to not watch that. I need to clear my mind, to process what I've seen today. There's this romantic idea of the humanitarian worker that works all day, everyday, nonstop. I think that romanticised idea of our jobs can be dangerous in terms of mental health. We need rest and disconnect like anyone else. Of course what we're doing is saving lives, but we have to not feel guilty for disconnecting. During the pandemic I felt that pressure especially. People were suffering, and especially refugees who don't have a support network. I felt I had to work because I was in a position of privilege so I had to give back. The end result was me not disconnecting and that wasn't good for my mental health.
To keep motivated, going to the field to see positive stories of how refugees have been able to thrive for themselves with the support of humanitarian organizations βΒ that keeps me motivated. Sometimes being at the office, you can lose touch and ask 'why am I doing this?'. Then you go to the field and you remember. It also really helps me to talk with colleagues during lunch. I have colleagues who are very motivated and they work in different areas. For example, speaking with our colleague who is in charge of resettlement and learning how many people we were able to resettle this year and how they're getting a chance to start a new life in another place. Actually connecting with colleagues in other areas keeps me motivates.
Adapting to change: as I said before, social changes every day and you need to read new things, learn and adapt every day.
Connecting with people: all the materials we're publishing are about stories of refugees, people being forced to flee their homes or of people welcoming refugees. In order to portray that situation to a public that might not know what's going on in a certain country or region, it's very important to connect to others to show the reality.
Video editing and writing: most of the things we can consume on social media today are short videos so making those is an essential skill. And of course every post comes with text and every social media manager should have great writing skills.
Detail-oriented: in the end if you think of UNHCR like a house, social media is like the entrance to that house for people who probably don't know UNHCR. We're the first way that people get to know us. So we have to be very careful about the language we use and the imagery we use.
Ready to make a difference? Six roles you can apply to today:
π‘ Feeling inspired? Head over to our careers page to explore more exciting roles. You can also register to be a part of our Talent Outreach Webinar on 19 October (focus on field security positions). Equip yourself with tips and videos from our HR team to understand the recruitment process.
π€ Your thoughts? Comment below on what surprised you the most about Ilaria's role as an Associate Social Media Officer, or with any questions you might have about this role.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution.Β Together with over 20,000 staff working around the world, we strive for a world where every person forced to flee can build a better future.
π©Stay inspired by stories like Ilaria's and join us in our mission to make a difference by subscribing.
See you in your inbox in two weeks,
Lorey Campese
The UNHCR Social Media Team
P.S. Can't wait two weeks for your next dose of inspiration? Dive into our video series to discover the people behind UNHCR and explore the breadth of roles and opportunities in the humanitarian sector.
Refugees
Refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution. They are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom are at risk.
At UNHCR, we have been assisting them for over half a century.
Imagine being forced to flee your country in order to escape to safety. If you were lucky you had time to pack a bag. If not, you simply dropped everythingΒ and ran.
Life as a refugee can be difficultΒ to imagine. But,Β for millions of peopleΒ around the world, it is aΒ terrifyingΒ reality.
In 2021, the number of refugees under UNHCR's mandate rose to 21.3 million. A further million registered refugees are cared for in some 60 camps acrossΒ the Middle East by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near EastLink is external (UNRWA), which was set up in 1949 to care for displaced Palestinians.
The protection of refugees has many aspects. These include safety from being returned to danger,Β access to fair and efficient asylum procedures,Β and measures to ensure that their basic human rights are respected while they secure a longer-term solution. UNHCR works around the clock to accomplish all of this, but we canβt do it alone.
Your support helps us to continueΒ providingΒ life-saving protection to millions.
Encourage all world leaders & thought influencers to call out & condemn war crimes, the violence, brutality, wholesale slaughter of innocent people, by whomever, wherever it is being carried out by war criminals. Sadly, we have entered a time when war criminals control many authoritarian regimes, using war & terror to remain in power. Try to identify the 6-dimensional manipulation these criminals are deploying all around, from Gaza to Africa, Ukraine to Arizona⦠from Putin to Trump, from Iran to North Korea. We must somehow raise up sanity, truth & justice to defend our existence & the possibility of a livable future.
Here on substack folks
are doing empowering & heroic work, against the tide of psychopathic extremism oozing out from the criminal conspiracies threatening our existence.What the world needs now is more understanding, rationality, empathy, not people ranting & raving with accusations, theories & hateful nonsense based on bizarre conspiracies. Resist the information warfare, reach for solutions.