Opinion and Editorial Pieces
Published: 1 Jul 2016
Global
Sonia Ben Ali and Marilena Hatoupis, co-founders of Urban Refugees, in an op-edfor The Guardian highlight the failings of refugee camps and call for the international community to prioritise other strategies to address refugee crises.
Kenya
In an op-ed for the Tanzania Daily News, Anne Kiruku calls for the Kenyan government to uphold its international obligations to refugees in Dadaab. She also highlights the origins of the government’s position in the failure of the international community to provide sufficient support and responsibility-sharing to countries like Kenya that host the majority of the world’s refugees.
USA
In a Counter Punch post, Jeff Pugh, Director of Graduate Conflict Resolution Programs at the University of Massachusetts, calls for the media and the political leaders in the United States to focus on building “bridges not walls” in their response to the global refugee crisis. The piece highlights polling data which suggests that individual interactions with migrants and refugees help to “promote peaceful coexistence and reduce xenophobia”.