4 Smartphone Tools Syrian Refugees Use to Arrive in Europe Safely

Feb 24, 2016 / 0 Comments

Tags: MENA Region / Europe / Refugees / Science and Technology / 2016

Syrian refugee Yusuf holds his smartphone, which he describes as “the most important thing.” With this, he said, he is able to call his father in Syria. © B. Sokol/UNHCR

If you look inside the bag of any refugee on a life-threatening boat trip to Europe, you see a few possessions that vary from one refugee to another. However, there is one thing they all carry with them: a smartphone. Those refugees have been criticized for owning smartphones, but what critics do not understand is that refugees consider these expensive devices as their main lifeline to the wider world, helping them flee wars and persecution. They are also the tools through which they tell the world their stories and narrate what is described as the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

Continue reading this article on World Bank’s blog.

Bassam Sebti

Prior to the World Bank, Sebti worked as a Senior Arabic Editor/Iraq Assignment Editor at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) where he edited, managed and assigned news articles for Mawtani.com. He also wrote and edited daily news articles in both English and Arabic for GDIT’s Middle East portal, Al-Shorfa.com.

Before that, Sebti was the Arabic editor of the International Journalists' Network (IJNet), a multilingual media training resource published by the Washington D.C.-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). He also worked on building ICFJ's online journalism training courses and assisted in running journalism training programs worldwide.

Prior to working with ICFJ, Sebti was a special correspondent for The Washington Post in Iraq, where he covered the war and the political process from September 2003 to July 2006.

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