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VIDEO: World Refugee Day 2016 -- open minds, unlock potential
Rome, 20 June 2016 – As human beings, we are at the mercy of nature, at the mercy of governments, at the mercy of leaders, at the mercy of war. We are at the mercy of forces beyond our control. These forces have caused an unprecedented 60 million people  – mothers, fathers, sisters and children – to flee their homes. Imagine the entire country of Italy in motion: taking trucks, rafts, footpaths and trains; taking children, blankets, clothing and, most often, taking nothing.
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Special JRS Europe publication for World Refugee Day: Journeys of Hope
Brussels, 17 June 2016 – Ahead of World Refugee Day, the Jesuit Refugee Service Europe is pleased to present "Journeys of Hope: Stories of refugees on the road to Europe", an eight-part documentary realised with refugees on the move through the Balkans and across the central Mediterranean from January to February 2016.
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Media advisory: World Refugee Day 2016
Rome, 15 June 2016 – This World Refugee Day, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) calls upon all of us not only to provide refugees with a safe place to stay, but with opportunities to grow and contribute to society. To truly protect means keeping people safe from all evils, including poverty, isolation, exploitation, misconception and neglect. For this reason, this year JRS is using the theme Open minds, unlock potential.
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Europe: over 125 civil society actors call the EU to tackle conflict minerals
Rome, 14 June 2015 -- Minerals are key components in many everyday products, from mobile phones, laptops, and jewellery, to cars and light bulbs. Civil society organisations have been documenting the links between minerals and these abuses for years, from their role in funding violent armed groups to the use of child labour in mines. It is time for EU governments to take effective legislative action to ensure companies source minerals responsibly, transparently and sustainably.
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Restrictive EU migration policies force desperate people to take deadly routes
Brussels, 8 June 2016 -- While interior ministers meet tomorrow to discuss EU migration policies, people trying to reach the safety of Europe continue to die en route. Caritas Europa and Jesuit Refugee Service Europe calls on European leaders to alter its restrictive approach to migration.
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Lebanon: xenophobia against Syrians in public schools
Beirut, 31 May 2016 – Each morning, 150 refugee children file in and out of the Jesuit Refugee Service Frans van der Lugt (JRS FVDL) remedial and early childhood educational centre in the busy Bourj Hammoud neighbourhood of Beirut, with another 150 arriving in the afternoon. The idea is to provide extra support to refugee children registered in Lebanese public schools. But in the public school system, Syrian children still find themselves facing many barriers – first and foremost: xenophobia.
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Europe: safe and humane channels needed
Brussels, 31 May 2016 – According to the UN refugee agency at least 880 forced migrants have perished in a series of shipwrecks on the central Mediterranean over the last week. JRS unequivocally calls upon national and supranational policymakers to use all the means at their disposal to create safe and humane passages for people in need of protection.
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Australia: de-identifying asylum seekers isn't always about protection
Sydney, 26 May 2016 – In Australia, conversation about people who seek asylum often feels disconnected from the people – the real flesh and blood people – whose lives are most affected. Those who know these people don't use their real names or faces out of a desire to protect them. But the de-identifying of people seeking asylum is not always about protection. People who came to Australia to seek protection who are sent to other countries for 'processing' are removed from the sight of the Australian community with a thoroughness which is astonishing in the modern world.
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Chad: no education, no life
Goz Amir, 25 May 2016 – Garsila is a large town in Darfur, Sudan, where we used to live in a beautiful town house with many rooms. We were quite close with our next-door neighbours, our relationship very cordial. We'd invite them whenever we had get-togethers, and I was especially close with the wife. Then the war started, and I was hit with a terrifying surprise.
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JRS welcomes Education Cannot Wait fund
Rome and Washington DC, 24 May 2016 – The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is gratified the international community made a commitment to education Monday at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. The Education Cannot Wait fund follows on the heels of the JRS Global Education Initiative launched last December.
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