A Call of Hope (World Refugee Day 2020)

Bangkok, 22 June 2020 – To celebrate World Refugee Day 2020, JRS Thailand together with JRS Singapore, and a special guest, Christine Getzler Vaughan, Deputy Regional Refugee Coordinator, Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration – US Department of State (BPRM), honor the courage and determination of refugees by organizing a virtual conversation “A Call of Hope” with urban refugees and asylum seekers living in Bangkok, Thailand, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the objective to raise refugee voices and awareness of refugee rights in the region through close interaction with refugees and asylum seekers, JRS aims to have a clearer understanding of urban refugee situation in order to improve our services and accompaniment during the pandemic.

A group of urban refugees and asylum seekers, including refugee youth who are students in the JRS Urban Education Project, joined the call through social media platforms to discuss about their living conditions, healthcare service, education, psychological well-being, among many concerns. The refugees shared the challenges they have faced during the lockdown and their hopes for the future.

—————————————–

JRS is part of a large network of Faith-Based Organizations that celebrated this year World Refugee Day 2020. following the 2020 message of the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, to encourages all of us to “know in order to understand” — personal knowledge is a necessary step towards appreciating the plight of others and making it our own. We wholeheartedly support the Pope’s invitation and also his plight for IDPs that is an often unseen tragedy that the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated. This year, worldwide, there are more and more refugees and IDPs with more challenges and needs and in this time of COVID-19, we have seen those vulnerable groups going through hardship, it is important for us for this commemoration of refugees rights to be present, to listen and draw attention on their issues. Opening our eyes and mind will lead to a clearer idea of what we need to do to help them.

Read full statement: https://bit.ly/33LnQIe