Refugees use Twitter to urge social media users to take more action

Michael Clarke12 February 2017

A new campaign by Amnesty International has given refugees the chance to take to Twitter as they urge for more action to be taken in the on-going migrant crisis.

Social media users who tweet about the crisis have been receiving direct video responses from residents of refugee camps in Lebanon and Kenya.

The ‘I Welcome’ campaign has allowed refugees to respond to tweets asking social media users to take action and do more than just share their outrage.

Osama Saeed Bhutta, Communications Director at Amnesty International, said: “We’re calling on everyone to #TakeAction and help us pressure governments around the world to do the same.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hi <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hehju" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/hehju" data-vars-event-id="c23">@hehju</a>, Leila in Kenya's Kakuma camp has replied to your tweet on child refugees <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TakeAction?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/hashtag/TakeAction?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#TakeAction</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/fHtoxkAmGc" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://t.co/fHtoxkAmGc" data-vars-event-id="c23">https://t.co/fHtoxkAmGc</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/GLay53pzaE" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://t.co/GLay53pzaE" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/GLay53pzaE</a> — AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/826467314631581696" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/826467314631581696" data-vars-event-id="c23">January 31, 2017</a>

“This is a global crisis that requires a global response. The problem is not the number of refugees but that far too few nations are sharing responsibility for supporting refugees. And it is the wealthiest nations that do the least.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hi <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/markgwalters" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/markgwalters" data-vars-event-id="c23">@markgwalters</a>, Abdul from Lebanon's Shatila camp has just replied to your tweet from earlier today <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TakeAction?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/hashtag/TakeAction?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#TakeAction</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/GOCxGFgP3M" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://t.co/GOCxGFgP3M" data-vars-event-id="c23">https://t.co/GOCxGFgP3M</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/YLvbeOcwtL" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://t.co/YLvbeOcwtL" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/YLvbeOcwtL</a> — AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/827208523960442886" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3464821-https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/827208523960442886" data-vars-event-id="c23">February 2, 2017</a>

The personalised video responses aim to give an ordinary face to the refugee crisis.

Residents of the camps that Amnesty International will be visiting live without basic amenities such as proper shelter, education, and health care.

According to the charity, 56% of the world’s refugees are hosted in just 10 countries located next to countries in conflict.