In the footsteps of refugees
Every day we see images of people who have tragically lost their lives fleeing their homeland. But what does it mean to have to leave your home, job, family and country behind? The digital installation "Displaced" allows you to put yourself in the shoes of those affected and experience what being a refugee is like.
Hayat Hamid escaped the endless bombing and persecution in war-torn Syria and fled with her two children and her mother-in-law into neighbouring Lebanon. They were only able to take a few items of clothing. “We had to wade through muddy fields and crawl through undergrowth before we could cross the border into safety.” Luckily the Hamids knew some distant relatives in Lebanon, in whose garage they have now been living for a number of years. They and their hosts share everything – meagre food supplies, dirty water, and infrequent electricity. However, both families are now penniless and in urgent need of international aid. Hayat Hamid is a fictional person, yet there are not thousands but millions of narratives like hers in real life.
More than 108 million refugees
There are currently more than 108.4 million refugees worldwide – the highest number of displaced people since the Second World War. The digital installation "Displaced" addresses the issue from different perspectives, presenting illustrative biographies that retrace the arduous journeys of refugees and refugee families. You will learn about what it is like to risk a long, dangerous journey and arrive at a place where no one is waiting for you, where you don’t speak the language and where you feel you don’t belong – alone, a stranger in a strange land, albeit one in which you have invested all your hopes. You experience the different stages of a refugee’s flight. You sit in a refugee boat and witness the gruelling, dangerous journey through the lens of film director Mano Khalil, himself a former refugee. You discover who obtains refugee protection in Switzerland and in other countries – and who doesn’t. In addition, you learn about the international aid on which over 90 per cent of all refugees worldwide depend, and find out how the asylum process works in Switzerland.
The digital installation is a joint project by the Federal Commission on Migration (FCM), the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Besides the fate of refugees, the installation also explores issues such as refugee flows caused by climate change, as well as cultural diversity, identity, and the opportunities of integration.
Immerse yourself in this virtual tour, which will lead you through pictures and facts but also personal stories... clic here
