100 million people are forcibly displaced, a rising number A growing number of more than 100 million people are currently forcibly displaced. Fortunately, not everyone needs our help, but a growing number regrettably do. However, the level of assistance people need to rebuild their lives after their ouster strongly differs…

Luckily, not all 84 million currently forcibly displaced people worldwide require assistance. But UNHCR resettlements and Complementary Pathways, the organized relocation options, are presently only able to address a tiny fraction of the formal requests received. This lack of legal options forces many refugees to migrate irregularly and numbers are…

This year, it has been 70 years since the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees was signed. The agreement has helped many and is still very relevant today, particularly its non-refoulement clause which forbids sending people back to unsafe countries. However, the convention has become stretched to its limits…

Unfortunately it is time for an unusual newsletter. On the 2nd of October 2018 Domenico Lucano, the now ex-mayor of Riace and initiator of one of the most successful social experiments for refugee integration in Europe, was placed under house arrest. Three years later, this week, he was convicted to…

Looking at today’s situation in Afghanistan, it is one of great uncertainty and rapid unexpected unpredictable change. Upon withdrawal of all foreign troops and the takeover of power by the Taliban, there emerged a governing vacuum which, due to a lack of alternatives, has to be filled by the Taliban…

My European Refival initiative has two angles of view, refugee integration and rural revitalization. It proposes to explore the synergies between them. Exactly two years ago, I published an article about educating Refugee Children and the problems they face due to interrupted enrollment. …

Recently listening to the “Rural Vision Week” conference, I found that there was a lack of discussion on how to attract new diversified professions and correspondingly educated people to fulfill these jobs in rural areas. Realizing that the purpose of the event was to involve the momentary rural stakeholders into…

Watching the daily misery of migrants being smuggled, the situation at the refugee camps, and pushbacks at European borders, I think that it is high-time to supplement this negative publicity with a positive narrative. If we are aiming to control irregular migration, well-functioning legal alternatives must be created. Only after…

Looking back on 2020, it was a year of disruption. Suddenly many borders closed and not only refugees but almost everyone started to seek a safe haven for themselves. Sadly, inequalities between privileged and disadvantaged people became painfully visible. Fortunately, the importance and awareness of the need for solidarity also…