On June 20 of each year, the world celebrates the World Refugee Day, in order to remind them of their suffering and the problems they face due to the suffering of their countries. and help them. Statistics indicate that 1% of the world’s population are refugees due to wars, conflicts and poverty, and many of these refugees are citizens of Arab countries such as Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines a refugee as “anyone who, out of a well-founded fear of persecution because of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinions, is found outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or unwilling to in protecting that country because of that fear.”
Here, Al Jazeera Documentary reviews some of its films that focus on refugee issues and their nostalgia for their homeland, and expose their dreams, concerns and obsessions.
1. “A refugee since birth” .. The impossible dream of visiting the sea
The documentary produced by the documentary presents the story of the 11-year-old Palestinian child Tamer, who is one of 13,000 people living inside the Dheisheh camp in the West Bank, in an area of no more than 1.5 square kilometers. He is a former resistance fighter trying to protect his son from the dangers of life under the Israeli occupation, but at the same time he would like to fulfill his son Tamer’s dream of seeing the sea that is located on the other side of the apartheid wall. However, this trip needs a special permit from the occupation, which is not practical. get it. Will father and son eventually succeed in fulfilling the dream of visiting the sea?
2. They are just refugees.. Another tragedy and then we come back
The documentary film “Just Another Tragedy” deals with a new vision of the refugee crisis in Europe, as it opens the file of Greece in 2015, when refugees arrived on the island of Lesbos, which journalists and media from all over the world visit with their cameras and recording devices waiting for an event, so how Journalists balance their humanity and professional objectivity?
3. “I will not die as a refugee”… Genetic Asylum Syndrome
The film, produced by the documentary, deals with the tragedy of the Palestinian-Syrians who left their country Palestine in the Nakba in 1948, and lived in Syria in the hope of returning to Palestine, but their suffering was renewed there with another catastrophe, to leave Syria in search of another refuge, and despite all this pain they still dream of returning to Palestine, and within each of them a voice chanting, “I will not die as a refugee.”
4. “The Other Syria”… A Journey into the Life of the Diaspora
The film, which was produced by the documentary, deals with the asylum of large numbers of Syrians to Turkey, as a result of the events in Syria since the start of the revolution in 2011. Syrian refugees were distributed between refugee camps and between various Turkish cities. Here, the film reviews examples of the lives of Syrians in Istanbul outside the camps, and deals with this through the experience of four diverse families who tell their story, their experience of asylum, their living conditions, their sorrows and their hopes.
5. Somalis .. The dream of seeking refuge in the safe half of the earth
The film, produced by the documentary, tells the story of Somali teenagers on an adventure as they seek refuge in Europe and America and the challenges and obstacles they face. What are their ultimate dreams?