Refugee Awareness Week

May 26 2016 Posted: 13:09 IST
During the refugee awareness week, which was organised by the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) society of NUIG, Kat Castillo lead a team of fellow M.A. students in volunteering their time towards a stall which conveyed the gender dimension of the current refugee crisis. Issues such as violence against women, which is heightened in times of war were addressed, and the volunteers took turns speaking with those attending and informing them about the topic. The event itself had speakers from the army, and medical professionals speak about their work in times of crisis, and there was also a demonstration of a raft which showed the cramped, inhumane and dangerous conditions refugees are travelling in. The students created information leaflets for people visiting about the gendered impact of the crisis, and also developed an interactive quiz for those attending so they could test their knowledge on gender based issues. This was an important project, and event, which benefitted from a gender lens and it was further enhanced by the students own understanding of human rights, globalisation, gender and conflict which they had obtained from the coursework during the semester.

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