World Human Rights Day

We wrote our project application for the Inspire project between November 2022 and March 2023. At the time the project was mostly concerned about the (at the time) relatively recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the significant displacement of people that occurred as a result. The numbers of displaced people are staggering; the UNHCR records an estimated nearly 4 million people displaced internally in Ukraine, a further 6.8 million displaced globally and approximately 14.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.

However, the world keeps changing, and while our minds were initially focussed largely on the crises in Ukraine from the perspectives of some partners, others in the project were focussed more on their nearest neighbours in Syria. Our partners in DEU, based in Izmir in Türkiye, are very familiar with Syrian refugees in their city, many of whom live in very challenging conditions.

Over the next 18 months as we worked on our project Russia variously temporarily gained and lost territory in Ukraine. Then, the war in Gaza began in October 2023, and it is now well over a year old. War has further spread into Lebanon, and in recent days the fall of the brutal Al Assad regime in Syria, adds further layers of complexity to the region.

Against the backdrop of the complexity of conflict, our project offers something novel and something really quite simple. A series of resources which may help some of the most disadvantaged to reclaim ownership over their own lives and destiny. The resources offer a way to gain economic independence, cultural integration, and a way to self-express personal interests. Our good practice user guide, soon to be published will cover inspiring case studies. Our workshops, which we have already commenced and delivered to refugees from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan among other countries, have given practical skills and knowledge on business start-ups, including covering registering a business, tax, employment law and more.

We encourage people in refugee like situations to contact us and we will offer support where we can. Please email anthony.johnston@tus.ie for further information.