At the invitation of OPEN Media Hub, ARIJ video producer Abdulrahman Yahia attended the Anna Lindh Foundation Med Forum in La Valetta, Malta on 23-26 October 2016. Here is his story on how refugees are considered in host countries, as explained in his short film by (in order of appearance):
1. Lina Liakou, deputy mayor of Thessaloniki
2. Zlatko Lagumdzija, Former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina and founder of the Shared Societies and Values Sarajevo Foundation
3. Ahmad Sharaf, Syrian exiled journalist
and
4. Irina Bokova, General Director of UNESCO
Translation of the Ahmad Sharaf SOT in Arabic:
“When I was in Syria, I used to run a family business, I hoped that I could continue my life there but unfortunately when the war broke out it forced me to abandon everything which was frustrating to each one in my country
The refugee needs time to understand the new society he came to, needs time to understand the new values of this new society, needs time to understand this new culture, as the refugee is not like a computer to format his cultural, educational and values background and install the new ones.”
Copyright notice: Users may copy, distribute, display, and perform this video and make derivative works and remixes based on it freely.
Author: Abdulrahman Yahia. Produced by ARIJ.
Date of filming and publication: 24 October 2016 Malta
