What role can refugees themselves play in responding to displacement, and how can we improve mechanisms that allow displaced communities to have an input into relief efforts? In this episode, Yanis Amirat and Maud Guibert sit down with Farida Abdulrahman, a Syrian refugee and former Head of Accountability at Violet Organization. Based in Gaziantep in Turkey, Violet Organization is an NGO that has been working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) and communities in Northern Syria since 2013. Farida fled from Syria to Turkey in 2015 and joined Violet Organization in 2016. Drawing on her experiences of being a refugee and working with the NGO, she reflects on the challenges facing Syrians in Turkey, the possibilities for refugee-led action, and the importance of accountability. Farida also discusses the impacts of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake on the organisation’s work.
Yanis Amirat is currently a student in Conflict Studies at LSE. He is interested in debates around the refugee regime, conflict resolution, and diplomacy. Yanis had the chance to take a deeper interest in the issue of so-called "Climate refugees" and even recorded a podcast on the subject while he was doing his Bachelor's in Geneva.
Maud Guibert is currently studying Conflict Studies at LSE. She previously worked with the Institut Montaigne, a French think-tank on French public policy issues, in which she oversaw the podcast production. She is interested in refugee issues and conflicts outcomes on displaced populations.
What is Refugee Realities?
To help celebrate and bring awareness to Refugee Week UK 2023, we are pleased to introduce Season 3 of ‘Refugee Realities’, a podcast series created by students on the Forced Displacement and Refugees course in the Department of International Development. In the lead up to UK Refugee Week we’ll be releasing student-recorded podcasts each day. Like the course, the topics covered are eclectic.
For a complete listing of Refugee Week events or to get involved, check out the Refugee Week website at https://refugeeweek.org.uk/ and follow Refugee Week on Instagram @refugeeweekuk and on Twitter and Facebook @RefugeeWeek. In the meantime, stay tuned for the podcasts.