Forced To Flee

Seventy years since the 1951 Refugee Convention was signed, forced displacement is at record levels – more than 82 million people at the end of 2020, and rising every year for the past decade.

In the final episode of this series of Forced To Flee, we look at the long-term options for refugees, asylum-seekers and the internally displaced. We meet refugees who through courage and determination have overcome multiple obstacles to thrive in new places. But we also examine how some countries are making it harder to find refuge; how protracted wars – and political indecision – are forcing millions to wait for solutions; and how climate change, the biggest global challenge of our times, is already becoming a major driving force behind displacement.

For many refugees trying to work out how to rebuild their lives, solutions can be hard to come by.  In “New Beginnings”, we meet refugees who have managed to start over even when rules, regulations and public attitudes seemed stacked against them.

From Latin America to Europe to New Zealand, whether cooking up new dishes or cooking up new music, these men and women used their strengths and talents to turn adversity into success. But for millions of others, the opportunities to return home or to make a new life in a new land can seem well out of reach…

“Line of Fire” is the second of two episodes that delve into some of the major emergencies of the past 70 years.

We begin with one of the most challenging humanitarian crises that UNHCR has faced: the devastating Bosnian wars of the 1990s, with a particular focus on the airlift that saved countless lives during the infamous siege of Sarajevo. We also invite three people who are working in the midst of an ongoing conflict, Yemen, to document a day in their lives as they strive to help some of the millions of people trapped by war, disease, poverty and hunger.

“Emergency” is the first of two episodes on Forced To Flee that take a look at some of the biggest humanitarian crises since the Second World War. Starting with the Soviet crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, we see how large-scale human displacement gradually came to affect more and more regions of the world, and how the international community’s response changed over time. And then we revisit the traumatic events of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as told by four people who were on the ground and who witnessed that disaster unfold. Our history will continue in episode 5, “Line of Fire”…

For many young refugees, early memories of childhood are dominated by conflict, fear and the trauma of losing everything that is comforting and familiar – family, friends, school…

In “Pencils and Pictures”, we meet two young refugees who encountered war, loss and what seemed like an endless series of obstacles and setbacks. But through sheer courage and determination, they discovered their passions – teaching and photography – and in so doing were able to forge their own futures.

With an unshakeable belief in the power of education, both went on to help other vulnerable youngsters to overcome the same daunting challenges that they once faced.

From the world’s biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, to a stroll down the Champs Elysées (not that one, the other one) to a hair-raising, 1,200-kilometre journey in search of a new start in a Colombian town… “Seeking Shelter” looks at how the forcibly displaced find ways to adapt, survive and thrive once they have reached a place of safety.

In August 2017, facing unimaginable violence and the destruction of their villages, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown. In only three years, what had been an area of jungle quickly turned into a refugee camp the size of a full-blown city. In Jordan, meanwhile, some of the millions of displaced Syrians who found shelter in refugee camps have set up thriving markets, businesses, sports clubs, schools and more as they seek to rebuild their lives.

Today, however, most refugees are to be found not in camps but in urban or semi-urban areas, trying to find decent accommodation, make a living and give their children a good start in life – as the story of a remarkable Venezuelan couple illustrates.

In the opening episode, we tell the story of two refugees who made very different journeys more than 35 years apart, but who faced many similar challenges in their efforts to escape conflict and persecution – including exploitation, abuse and despair before escape, rescue and renewed hope. 

Thuy is a refugee from Viet Nam who fled in 1979 as one of the millions of “boat people”. Instead of a swift rescue, she was marooned on an island where she had to hide every night from marauding pirates. We also hear the story of Samrawit, an Eritrean woman who fled her home in 2016 only to be abducted by people traffickers. Once freed, she later survived a shipwreck off the coast of Libya before her odyssey ultimately led her to Sweden.