Suggested Activities for Students:

 

1. Cultivate attitudes which support the constructive, active and non-violent resolution of conflict. On the UNHCR website, www.unhcr.ch, resources are available for students to work with issues connected to refugees; to introduce students to relevant concepts such as asylum and international declarations concerning human rights; to provide further background information and to enable students to develop an understanding of the refugee experience.

 

2. Help students understand some of the complex processes that lead to violence and conflict which in turn cause refugees to flee from their homes and from their countries of origin. To promote refugee awareness, students can for example sponsor a ‘refugee day’ at their school, to which refugees from the local community can be invited to speak. To get information about this contact the State Refugee Coordination Office or NGOs (non-governmental organizations) working with refugees. One possibility is to have a closed circuit TV in the school to share the activities with the rest of the students.

 

3. Help students develop the personal and social skills necessary to live in harmony with others and to behave in positive and caring ways that respect basic human rights. Contact local resettlement offices to investigate possibilities for students to volunteer in tutoring refugees in English. Another way of helping is to, in coordination with the resettlement office, arrange drives for newly arrived refugees, to provide them with basic things such as shampoo, clothing, baby items etc.

 

4. One way to help refugees is to go to www.peaceforall.com, a special website set up to trigger donations to refugees through the UNHCR. On the website, click on a button to make an automatic free sponsor/donation. To raise money for refugees, students can start campaigns to encourage people to click once a day for a month.