Refugees from six decades gather in Washington DC for landmark congress
8 min readWhen Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek was 14 years old, she left South Sudan in the heat of civil war. Her family, fleeing both rebel and government forces, trekked through the bush for months, leading to her father’s leg infection, paralysis and death.
Wek ended up at a refugee resettlement organization in London in 1986 and was separated from her mother for two years. A scout spotted her at a market and Wek went on to become the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle. Wek, now 34, realizes her good fortune and tells the Huffington Post she uses her platform as a way to advocate for refugees.
“The most humbling thing fashion has given me is a voice, and I hope to use that for other refugees,” she says. “People look at refugees as a burden. I have always hoped to shed light on how they positively contribute to their new homes.”
She is one of many sharing her story at the first-ever Refugee Congress at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday. Sixty refugees and asylum seekers spanning six decades and representing nations from Cuba to Burma met to share their stories of displacement. Representing every state in the U.S., the attendees also offered ideas for reform in policies affecting refugees.
After the convention, participants will meet with their Congressional representatives. The event is the inaugural refugee gathering convening under the premise that refugees should be involved in and informing policy, according to UNHCR.
Fatuma Elmi, a refugee from Somalia attending the convention, tells the Huffington Post she has high hopes that the convention community will develop recommendations for policy reform to send to the State Department.
Elmi, who fled civil war in Somalia and landed in Minneapolis in 1991, helps African refugees purchase houses and open small businesses. She’s holding workshops at the convention to discuss widening the window of time in which a refugee must be hired. Currently, it’s set at eight months.
“We need to revisit requirements for refugees when they come here,” she tells the Huffington Post. “Someone who comes here, particularly from Somalia, might be 22 years old and he might not be able to write his own name. How am I supposed to make sure he gets a job?”
Elmi says the interim time between landing in the U.S. and landing a first job should also include more education opportunities.
Wek is also pressing for increased education for refugees, as well as providing these opportunities for citizens in her homeland. With South Sudan’s new status as a sovereign nation, she says she’d like to go back, rebuild the country and instill a sense of community, while focusing predominantly on education outreach.
“People want to open schools, improve agriculture, become writers,” she said. “I would love to see the arts, the history, a gallery, a library. There’s so much rich history.”
She’s working on raising money for an academy school, a blueprint she would like to see crop up throughout the country. She herself started an organization called WEK, or Working To Education Kids, which provides education tools and resources for underprivileged kids.
Wek’s also worked on the ground with Doctors Without Borders in Africa, educating people about disease and how to use clean water pumps installed on trips with UNICEF.
She sees herself as a true ambassador for those those who have helped refugees — but what’s more — refugees themselves.
“Not only do refugees lose their home, but they don’t always have a voice,” Wek says. “They deserve to have that at the very least.”
Refugees from six decades gather in Washington for landmark congress
04 Aug 2011 16:01
Source: Content Partner // UNHCR
WASHINGTON, DC, United States, August 4 (UNHCR) – Refugees from the past six decades, including a Sudanese supermodel and a Lao mental health worker, have gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss the challenges that refugees face around the world.
The fascinating group of 60 current or former refugees and asylum-seekers are participating in the first Refugee Congress to be held in the United States. The two-day event opened Wednesday outside the Capitol, home of the U.S. Congress, and is being organized by UNHCR to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention.
“Refugees are not a burden. The Refugee Congress sheds light on the contributions refugees bring to our communities. They share the same values as everyone,” Alex Wek told the landmark meeting. The ethnic Dinka supermodel fled her native South Sudan to escape civil war in the 1990s and became a refugee in the United Kingdom.
She said she had come to the Refugee Congress to help spread more awareness about the trauma that refugees endure, as well as the vibrancy they bring to their new home countries. But Wek stressed how important it was for the international community to help refugees, while praising UNHCR for the work it does around the globe.
Mental health worker Sompasong Keohavong represents refugees from the 1970s, when UNHCR was kept busy helping people forced to flee their homes in Indochina. He came from Laos, fleeing persecution in the landlocked country in 1975 and living for one year in a refugee camp in Thailand before being resettled in the United States.
“Most of us live a successful life here and we have stories to tell,” stressed the resident of Seattle in Washington State. “The Refugee Congress can pinpoint the needs of refugees and figure out how to solve problems.”
Refugees from every decade since 1950 are taking part in the Congress and they represent almost every state in the United States and emergencies on every continent in the world. They include activists, artists, government officials, authors and resettlement agency workers, including Fatuma Elmi, who fled Somalia in 1991.
Twenty years later, her country is still enduring appalling suffering. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes this year in Somalia to escape fighting, persecution and the worst drought in the region in more than half-a-century.
“As a Somali, it is heartbreaking to see what is happening,” said Elmi, who works for the Lutheran Social Services. She also welcomed discussion at the Refugee Congress on the challenges that resettled refugees face, and their needs. “People need more time and assistance to integrate in the United States,” she said. “The Refugee Congress is helping to provide recommendations for how to best make that happen.”
Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s Washington-based regional representative, told the participants that they were testament to the United States’ long humanitarian tradition of hospitality and protection. “Today, we have heard refugees speaking for themselves and making policy recommendations that will hopefully influence how integration programmes are designed, implemented and evaluated,” he said.
By Lilli Tnaib in Washington, DC, United States
USCCB SPONSORS FOUR REFUGEES TO FIRST UNHCR REFUGEE CONGRESS, CONVENES ITS NATIONAL RESETTLEMENT SERVICES NETWORK
WASHINGTON (MetroCatholic)—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is sponsoring four refugees to attend the UNHCR Refugee Congress August 2-4, in Washington. Hailing from Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and Bhutan, these refugees were successfully resettled to the United States by the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services (MRS). They live now in places like Jackson, Mississippi; Charleston, West Virginia; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Chicago and, this week, they will have a chance to share their stories and experiences with other refugees and to participate in an advocacy day, August 4, on the Hill.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the United Nation’s Refugee Convention, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will hold its first Refugee Congress with refugees from across the country who were resettled at various times throughout the history of the U.S. resettlement program. The congress will bring together over 50 refugees to discuss their resettlement experiences and to provide insight and guidance on how the international community’s response to refugee protection and in particular, resettlement in the U.S., can be strengthened in the future.
Participants will look at ongoing and future challenges in refugee protection and refugee resettlement, and then share their findings and recommendations with their Congressional representatives. They hope their testimonies make an important contribution at a time when refugee admissions to the U.S. have been drastically reduced. The proceedings and recommendations from the Refugee Congress will also be shared at the UNHCR ministerial meeting in Geneva later this year and with other stakeholders involved in U.S. refugee resettlement.
The four refugees sponsored by MRS include:
- A Sudanese refugee who arrived as a “lost boy” in 2000 at the age of 17 and is now a foster parent to unaccompanied refugee minors. He is also a leader in the local Sudanese community in Jackson, Mississippi.
- A Yemenis refugee, currently based Charleston, West Virginia, who arrived in the U.S. with his family in 2001 at the age of nine. He recently graduated Valedictorian from his high school and received a full scholarship to attend West Virginia University starting this fall.
- An Assyrian Iraqi refugee who arrived in the U.S. in 2009 at the age of 32. He was a successful entrepreneur in Iraq before fleeing to Turkey due to death threats he received because he was educated, successful, and Christian. He is currently pursuing his doctorate and hopes to start another business in the near future. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and is very active in advocacy on behalf of Christians still in Iraq and in his campus student association.
- A Bhutanese refugee arriving in 2008 at the age of 33. Formerly a teacher in Bhutan, he now provides orientation and other cultural adjustment education to newly arriving refugees as a case aide at his resettlement agency. He is also a leader in the local Bhutanese community in Chicago.
“What people often do not understand is that refugees are legal residents and make positive and productive contributions to the community,” said one of them as he expressed hopes that his testimony and advocacy will help to encourage greater attention to refugees and raise awareness within larger communities about refugees living in their midst.
The UNHCR Refugee Congress coincides with MRS’ annual National Resettlement Convening, August 3-5, which brings together about 170 resettlement directors and other representatives from their network. The convening has several tracks, including children and families, mental health, resource development and program management. Both groups will join together in meeting with their representatives for advocacy day on August 4.
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