Amnesty Organizations around the World Calls on All Parties
to Understand and Assist Refugees 

On 17th September 2016, Amnesty International Thailand members and activists held an activity entitled “This Weekend, Take Your Love Ones and Get to Know Refugees” in order to exchange experience and learn about “refugees”. This activity was held worldwide to celebrate the “Refugee Week” of Amnesty, raise the awareness and call on the world to assist refugees. This activity was held at State Railway Public Park, Bangkok in order to reach more new-generation people and families.

Mrs. Piyanuch Kotsan, Director of Amnesty International Thailand revealed that Amnesty has realized that currently the refugee problems are crises which require urgent solutions. In order to solve the problems, it can start with ordinary people to politicians or policy makers. If people start to listen to refugee problems more and see another aspect of refugees that they are like ordinary people who want to live in a safe place, have a job and good quality of life. People have to overlook the fear of prejudice that divides us with refugees.

According to the information by UNHCR, at the present, there are approximately 21 million refugees around the world and only 14% of them reside in a wealth country. The number of refugees in Ethiopia, Kenya, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey is 1/3 of the refugees around the world, even though these countries make up only 1.6% of the economy of the world.

Amnesty International hopes that by 2018, there will be at least 1.2 million refugees who receive assistance for safe and lawful migration, as well as being accepted to settle down in a new country. We believe that these solutions are sustainable and will help refugees from taking the dangerous path which will give them new lives and allow them to adjust to a new community to which they migrate.

“The solutions for refugees are the share of responsibility of the international community to protect fellow human beings in terms of rights and liberty that they are entitled to have according to the UN Refugee Convention which requires international coordination to protect refugees and solve the problems permanently.”

Amnesty International urges the governments around the world to show the potential of true leadership by being jointly responsible for assisting refugees, especially wealthy countries, in order to show willingness to provide new shelter to refugees more than it is now, as well as providing legal aids for refugees so that they can access security.

This September, Amnesty International around the world held activities for refugees in 50 countries. The form of activity varied, such as refugee welcoming parade in England, sticker giveaway activity in Denmark, performance in Mali, flash mob in Switzerland or refugees garden party in Chile, which is similar to the one in Thailand.

These activities were concluded by Amnesty activists transforming themselves into symbolic letters encouraging people to help refugees. They made a house picture to show that what refugees who were stranded from their homeland needed the most was a safe place where they could live their lives normally.