NGO Committee on Migration and UN Global Compact on Migration
FAWCO UN Rep Jane Politi is Vice Chair of the NGO Committee on Migration (NGO CoM) in New York. FAWCO is proud to support the NGO CoM's efforts, including co-sponsoring a position paper that was featured on a UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) blog.
In September 2019, FAWCO UN Rep Jane Politi attended side events related to climate-induced migration and the impacts on children at the global Climate Summit in New York, and wrote a blog recounting her impressions.
In December 2018, FAWCO members Kenia Guimaeres (AAWE Paris) and Diala Nasser (AIWA Marrakesh) participated in the Global Compact on Migration Adoption Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, and reported on the conference. Leading up to the intergovernmental conference, FAWCO joined in signing on to a joint Civil Society message to the UN Member States about the importance of implementation of the Compact.
In September 2018, The NGO CoM developed a one-page summary of the UN Global Compact for Migration which will be adopted by UN Member States in December. FAWCO has endorsed NGO CoM postion papers which you can read on the Advocacy page. FAWCO UN Rep Tara Scott (AW Central Scotland) represented FAWCO at the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs in Geneva in June 2018. To learn about UNHCR's partnerships with NGOs, read Tara's report.
FAWCO and other members of the NGO Committee on Migration co-sponsored two events at the 56th UN Commission on Social Development in NY in February 2018: panel discussions entitled: "Innovative Strategies to Eradicate Poverty for Migrant and Refugee Children: Early Childhood Development" and "Conflict and Poverty: The Case of the Rohingya".
FAWCO signed on to a Declaration on Climate-Induced Displacement initiated by CIVICUS, a global network of civil society and other stakeholders to engage constructively in finding common solutions to global challenges.
FAWCO has endorsed Now and How: Ten Acts for the Global Compact, developed by the Migration and Development Civil Society Network (MADE), with support from the NGO Committee on Migration.
FAWCO has signed on to NGO Committee on Migration's statements on the refugee situation, including “Providing Education and Care for Syria’s Littlest Refugees” (June 2015). Children under age 18 make up as many as 50% of all refugees worldwide. Read more about FAWCO's advocacy and action for early childhood development and education for refugee children. The NGO CoM, FAWCO and other partners also organized a panel discussion at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2016 on the importance of early childhood education to increasing resilience among refugee children. For the UN Commission on Social Development in Fenruary 2017, FAWCO co-sponsored an event with the NGO CoM on Early Childhood Development as a Strategy to Eradicate Poverty and Reduce Inequalities in a Migration and Refugee Context.
The NGO CoM produced this infographic designed to help debunk myths and end xenophobia.
#WithRefugees
FAWCO promotes the UNHCR's petition to world governments #WithRefugees
To learn more about refugees, displaced people and migrants, watch this UNHCR video.
Refugee Relief: How Can FAWCO Clubs Help?
Hope Beyond Displacement: Educating and Empowering Refugee Women and Girls in Amman, Jordan with the Collateral Repair Project was FAWCO's 2017 - 2019 Target Project. The FAWCO UN Reps Team joins all of FAWCO in support of the Target Project.
If your club is involved in work with refugee populations in your community, please let us know at , so we can exchange ideas and experiences.
How have FAWCO member clubs been involved, and what can we do to help now? Learn more.
Read personal reflections on helping refugees in Austria by UN Liaison Laurie Richardson.
Update from Greece: Read the report on organizations helping refugees in Lesvos by Grace Christovasilis, FAWCO's UN Rep in Athens.
We’ve seen the headlines, and in the New York Times (Sept. 14, 2015):
“More than 200,000 Syrian people have been killed in the 4 1/2-year Syrian civil war. The constant violence has forced more than four million to flee the country, fueling a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe...”
For background information, a BBC article summarizes the ongoing situation with refugees arriving in Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in conflict. FAWCO clubs in Lebanon, Greece and Italy have been affected for several years, but in 2015 the influx of people fleeing from war arrived in the rest of Europe.
FAWCO's UN Rep in Athens Grace Christovasilis (AWOG) is our representative to UNHCR Greece, and in New York, Jane Politi (AWA Rome) is Vice-Chair of the NGO Committee on Migration.
AWO Greece
A million refugees came through Greece in 2015; 58,000 remain in the country following border closures along the Balkan route to Northern Europe. The death toll of refugees and migrants lost in the Mediterranean in 2015 reached a staggering figure of over 3,700, and 2016 is already proving to be the deadliest year on record. Since Winter 2015, AWOG members:
- donated food, clothing, blankets and shoes to refugee camps and organizations in Athens, Lesvos and Chios
- volunteered at a warehouse, sorting and distributing in-kind donations for camps
- raised funds and collected in-kind donations for teenage boy refugees aged 10-18 who have been separated from their parents.
In 2016, UN Rep Grace Christovasilis helped to organize a solidarity day for and with refugees together with UNHCR Greece and UNHCR Spain. A team of former FC Barcelona players, legends and veterans, visited Ioannina, Greece, in November to hold football workshops for boys, girls and adults who live in refugee sites. FC Barcelona ex-players stood side by side with refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, raised funds for their aid and protection, and recognized the effort made by the Greek people in providing shelter for them.
The Solidarity Journey included over 540 refugees and their children, joined by the UNHCR Greece team and volunteers from several NGOs. 220 boys and girls from the refugee camps took part in a coaching clinic designed and run by the Club's ex-players. During their visit, FC Barcelona veterans played a friendly match with a local team, PAS Giannina CF Veterans.
The events were featured on FC Barcelona's website which has over 6 million views daily -- bringing much attention to this UNHCR collaboration. You can watch an inspiring video about FC Barcelona's engagement.
AAWE Paris
AAWE members started a Refugee Team in February 2016, focusing their efforts on education and advocacy, donations and fundraising, and integration. They collaborate with a French NGO supporting a school for refugees, the American Cathedral in Paris, and the American School of Paris.
The Team has become an active network of concerned members who meet regularly to share ideas, experiences, resources and connections. They have identified programs and partners, held social and cultural exchange events to raise funds, collected and delivered in-kind donations, trained tutors, and identified host families for refugees.
Recent projects include collection and distribution of 70 backpacks filled with things like underwear, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shaving cream - all carefully and lovingly packed, and collection of donations of furniture and organization of transport to refugee camps in northern France, where they will furnish a new school facility.