Al Jazeera launches #iRefugee campaign and calls for refugees to submit videos and images. The campaign, set to go live on 15 February 2015
Starting on 15 February 2015, Al Jazeera’s #iRefugee social media campaign will put the focus firmly on the experience of refugees around the world.
Al Jazeera is calling on refugees to post an image or video of themselves on social media holding up a placard with the hashtag #iRefugee on it. Refugees are welcome to say or write where they are from, where they are seeking refuge or asylum, what they miss about home, or a message to other refugees, provided that the video is no longer than 15 seconds and/or the text is easily readable on the placard in their image.
The #iRefugee campaign will build up to the launch of Life on Hold, a web documentary highlighting the plight of ten Syrian refugees in neighbouring Lebanon, which is currently hosting an estimated two million Syrian refugees, of whom only half are registered. Unlike Jordan, Turkey and Egypt, the Lebanese government has forbidden UN agencies from setting up formal refugee camps. Syrians have had to seek shelter wherever they can find it: in makeshift tented settlements, re-purposed factories, empty hospitals, and even former prisons.
The first phase of Life on Hold will launch on 15 March 2015, the four-year anniversary of the Syrian crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people and laid waste to towns and cities, displacing millions of their inhabitants.
To participate, please use the hashtag #iRefugee from 15 February 2015.
