Being a refugee means taking only the bare essentials with you. It means surviving on the streets, in emergency shelters, in tent camps. It means not knowing what will be tomorrow, the day after or in one year's time. Being a refugee is life-threatening.
Refugees and displaced persons need more protection and humane and dignified responses. The Geneva Refugee Convention was developed and adopted after the Second World War due to the dramatic situation of refugees and displaced persons, with a focus on Europe. Today, Europe is curtailing the rights and protection of refugees, thereby jeopardising the Geneva Refugee Convention.
Our partner organisations support refugees with many different measures:
- In the short term, our partners provide emergency aid and distribute food, medicines, blankets and hygiene products.
- Children and young people are supported to continue their education, even under difficult conditions. Girls and young women are given special support.
- Long-term prospects are also important - in the new or old home. Education and training are immensely important for refugees.
- Fear is a constant companion for many refugees. Traumatised people are offered psychosocial support.
- Encounters support reconciliation work and peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities.
- Misereor helps people where they are: most of the funds for refugees are used to support people in the conflict and crisis areas in Syria and its neighbouring countries. However, the work also focuses on South Sudan, Cameroon, Mozambique, South Africa, Myanmar and Colombia.
Most refugees and migrants are still displaced within their home regions or are searching protection in their own country. We support them through local partner organisations in a variety of ways in their regions of origin and along their escape routes.
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Where Misereor supports refugees and migrants
Misereor works worldwide to protect refugees and migrants – from emergency aid and psychosocial support to education, integration and long-term prospects for the future. Partner organisations not only provide humanitarian aid but also strengthen social cohesion and the rights of refugees to promote peaceful coexistence with host communities.
- In Africa , the focus is particularly on resilience, livelihood security and social integration – for example, through vocational training and income-generating opportunities for refugees, as in the case of Mauritania, where targeted career prospects are being created for migrants.
- In Latin America and the Caribbean, the focus is on protecting vulnerable groups and strengthening human rights – for example in Haiti, where projects promote the protection of children at risk as well as support for displaced persons and returnees in crisis situations.
- In South-West Asia and North Africa ( SWANA), Misereor concentrates primarily on providing for refugees in protracted crises, as well as access to education, health services and psychosocial support – for example in Lebanon, where refugees are supported through educational programmes and social services.
- In the Asia-Pacific region, Misereor supports in particular access to rights, education and livelihoods, as well as the resilience of those affected by climate change, conflict and crises – for example in Myanmar or along the Thai border, where refugees are empowered legally, socially and economically.
