Pictures that speak a thousand words.
The recent Brussels bombings claimed the lives of some 31 innocents and injured another 340. While Belgians opened up their homes to those left stranded by the tragedy using the hashtag #ikwilhelpen (I want to help) on social media, refugees at an Idomeni makeshift camp held up placards writing ‘Sorry Belgium’ and ‘We are not terrorists’.
More than 10,000 such refugees and migrants live under deplorable conditions at just this one camp, desperately clinging to a hope – that the Greek-Macedonian border will reopen, giving them the chance to reunite with families and seek a better life. The bulk of them come from Syria, as 4.7 million have fled their homes to neighbouring countries in attempt to escape a five-year civil war that has accumulated a death toll of a quarter of a million. The European Union (EU) has been criticised for turning its back on asylum seekers in what has been dubbed Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, with humanitarian aid workers pulling out across camps in protest of the controversial EU-Turkey deal that will deport those arriving illegally in Greece back to Turkey.
13.5 million Syrians are displaced and require urgent assistance to meet their basic needs such as food. If you’d like to help provide food aid, make a donation to the World Food Programme.
Half the refugee population are children, lacking the bare necessities and the opportunities to education. 8.4 million children are in need of aid inside Syria and in neighbouring countries. If you’d like to help protect the children of Syria, make a donation to UNICEF.