When a refugee speaks in the camp and there’s nobody around to hear him, does he make a sound? It all starts in Davos, where UNHCR decided to mount a Refugee Run [PDF] offering to the assorted bigwigs
an experience unlike any other on the agenda: an opportunity to step into the world of conflict and experience life as a refugee.
It’s no big secret – times are tough in UN-land right now thanks to the financial crisis, and those bigwigs have got some mighty big pockets to go with their big wigs. Unfortunately the invitation was sent to William Easterley, scourge of the aid industry1, who posted it on his new (and recommended) blog, adding:
Did the words “insensitive,” “dehumanizing,” or “disrespectful” (not to mention “ludicrous”) ever come up in discussing the plans for “Refugee Run”? I hope such bad taste does not reflect some inability in UNHCR to see refugees as real people with their own dignity and rights.
I wouldn’t like to say whether it reflects such an inability in UNHCR cough cough. However UNHCR clearly thought it might reflect badly on UNHCR in some way, because they made sure that in their press release there was an Actual Refugee on hand to give it the stamp of approval:
The exhibit received a seal of approval from a genuine refugee, Raphael Mwandu from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The things you see in this simulation are the same as those in the camps,” he said, adding that it would help let people “know what is going on in our world so that they can meet together and find solutions.
The Refugee Run has its defenders, though, and they’re more convincing than the original invitation. In the comments on Easterley’s blog, one of Raphael’s friends explained that
As a friend and colleague of Raphael Mwandu, I can tell you that he works for the (non-UN) Hong Kong organisation that presented the event, and has helped run the Refugee Run for many hundreds of people over the past few years. He was not invited by the UNHCR but came as part of the staff from Hong Kong.
Now that’s fair enough, and I don’t wish to denigrate Raphael’s experiences, or the organisation that has set up the Refugee Run – but wouldn’t it be more accurate to describe him in the press release as one of the organisers of the event, rather than a “genuine refugee”? It’s the equivalent of having a quote saying “Virgin Airlines is the best airline I’ve ever been on” from a Mr R. Branson – it might be true, but it’s not honest.