Why We Speak: Help Spread Refugee Stories

3 Generations is working to bring attention to the more than 70 million people across the globe who have been forced to flee their homes. The spread of COVID-19 is worsening the already fragile and vulnerable situation for refugees across the world. Many displaced people live in camps in countries with food scarcity and weakened healthcare infrastructures. As governments tighten restrictions in these regions because of the pandemic, aid organizations struggle to provide help.  

Governments have closed their borders and limited the flow of critical food and medical supplies. As a result, food supplies that are accessible have more than doubled in price, leaving the country’s poorer populations, which include refugees, with limited access to food. As COVID-19 continues to affect the supply chains, the World Food Programme predicts that the pandemic could double the number of people facing acute hunger, bringing the number from 135 million to 265 million by the end of 2020. 

Aid workers have warned of a potential humanitarian disaster if there is a significant outbreak in any of the many refugee camps around the world. At many camps, there are tens of thousands of people living closely packed together. Camp health facilities are too small and lack staff, while people in the camps do not have enough soap and water or living space to protect themselves. Refugee camps have shared water and hygiene facilities such as toilets, showers, and faucets resulting in long lines and unavoidable unsanitary conditions. Without efforts to increase health care access, improve sanitation, isolate suspected cases, and decongest camps, the disease will devastate the refugee and local populations that surround them.

The stories of today’s refugees encompass every human rights issue we are dedicated to documenting at 3 Generations. We have been recording stories of refugees since 2013 when we began documenting the experiences of Syrians fleeing civil war. Since then we have expanded our efforts by producing short films on Tibetans fleeing Chinese oppression and Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. We continue to work on this urgent issue and are in the process of completing post-production on three short documentaries about Yazidi women forced into slavery by ISIS. For more information about our refugee work please visit our website.

Over 140,000 Syrians have been displaced in just 3 days by air and ground attacks from Syrian and Russian forces in Syria’s northwest this past week. Some 700,000 people have fled from the region since December, when the Syrian government launched its latest offensive against the opposition. Russian and Syrian warplanes have repeatedly bombed hospitals and other civilian sites, as well as fleeing families on the road.

The UN has described this displacement as one of the worst humanitarian crises in Syria's nearly nine-year-long civil war. These newly uprooted Syrians face crowded refugee camps and harsh weather. Aid organizations are struggling to provide them with shelter, food and warm clothes. The horrific crisis is deepening by the minute and the rest of the world seems indifferent to the plight of the Syrian people.

3 Generations will continue to record the stories of Syrian refugees as we have been since 2013. We are proud of our steadfast coverage of this human rights catastrophe which includes award-winning short and feature films. It is important that we continue to tell these stories so that the world does not forget the suffering and destruction of this once vital and culturally rich people.