Scouts and Guides are standing together #WithRefugees! - Photo Exhibition in Mundo B
On World Refugee Day, we reflect on the stories of Guides
and Scouts who were serving the refugees in different countries.
There are currently 68.5 million refugees worldwide, with half of
that figure made up of young people. Scouts and Guides are strongly
committed to supporting refugees in their local communities. WOSM and
WAGGGS work together on human rights work, along with supporting and connecting
their Member Organisations which are playing an active role in the
current migrant and refugee situation in Europe.
At the WAGGGS 36th World Conference, a Motion was passed calling on WAGGGS to
support Member Organisations taking action to supporting human rights and
address inequality and inequity in response to the current migrant and refugee
situation. WAGGGS is now mapping the needs and best practices Member
Organisations already have on this topic. We are collecting and sharing
amazing stories of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
taking action every day to create more open and inclusive societies. Furthermore,
the joint WAGGGS and WOSM European working group Human Rights & Refugees
has created an exciting game. This game will support Guides and Scouts to learn
about the current refugee situation and help them raise awareness. Finally, a
joint statement by the WAGGGS Europe Region and WOSM European Scout
Region committees will invite European Institutions to move the
focus of refugee policies from closing, to integrating
Europe.
Scouts are often among the very first to respond to the migrant and
refugee situation and they never leave. Apart from providing the displaced
with necessities, they have opened Scout groups, trained new leaders,
encouraged young people to join Scouting activities and programmes. The camps,
skill development workshops and games, have proved to be a welcome respite for
young refugees, giving them hope for the future. The World Organization of
the Scout Movement (WOSM) has launched a new platform to structure and
streamline the support available to its 169 National Scout Organisations
(NSOs), to improve their capacity to deliver a better Scouting experience to
young people worldwide. The online platform offer toolkits and guides
as well as references to NSO best practices concerning the inclusion of
migrants, refugees and displaced people.
In this framework, the Scout project Time to be Welcome encourages
young volunteers and youth organisations to welcome asylum seekers
and refugees. It promotes the integration process in new countries through
non-formal education and youth work. Within the different project phases social
campaigns are developed to raise awareness of project topics. It will also
explore living conditions faced by refugees and the need for communities to
welcome and integrate new members.
To support this work volunteers have developed a photographic report of
their experience. These pictures will be part of an exhibition held at Mundo B from 20 June until the end of July. The
images will move to Mundo J where they will be displayed until the
end of September. The aim of this exhibition is to share project results
and showcase this work to the international community, as an example
of the work Scouts and Guides are doing in this area. This
includes activities implemented in Greece and France, along
with the framework of the EU funded Time to be Welcome project.