The problem of dehumanization of refugees, including Ukrainian ones, can be solved through telling the story of these people who decide to leave their country, as well as through a detailed description of the political background of the situation that these migrants want to leave in search of a better life. < /p>
This was reported during the Lviv Media Forum by Jörg Lau, a German journalist and international correspondent for the publication Die Zeit, reports ICTV Facts correspondent from the event.
Politicization of the refugee issue
He said that in his years as an international editor for almost 10 years, he had come across a lot of stories about refugees, where he had to make decisions about how he would write it and how the German publication would need to deal with it. problem.
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— And I would like to share with you that I have developed a problem with a purely humanitarian view of these issues. Of course you want to tell a story about poor people on these boats or people dying somewhere. We just published a story, for example, a very good one, in my opinion, about a cemetery on the island of Lesvos where all these people are buried without names. These are people whom no one has ever heard of, even their relatives do not know where they are. These are mass graves on the outskirts of Europe. So these humanitarian or shocking stories are important, but they cannot be, I think, the main thing we should be working on, — he explains.
According to Lau, these migrants are subjects with power. They, the journalist continues, make decisions, and these decisions have a political basis in the situation from which they come, and also in terms of what these refugees hope to find where they go.
— Therefore, it is important for me to represent the people who make the decision to leave or stay, as you had to do. Most readers, or viewers, can understand this, and it helps counter the dehumanizing framing of refugees as masses of people who simply come to us (Europeans, & ;#8212; Ed.) and they want to take our things from us. It also perhaps helps decision makers find places where policy decisions actually matter — the journalist explains.
He recalls the Syrian refugee crisis that arose in Europe after the war began in Syria.
— It (the crisis, — Ed.) arose from the dire situations in the refugee camps, so it was only a matter of time before it happened. It’s the same with Ukrainian refugees. It's not just because people are looking for a better life. They have a reason to go, and even a search for a better life — that's not a bad reason to leave your country, so I think it's important to have these human stories, but also inform them of the political background and context, and show that these people have a voice and make decisions, and we can also help them or change the conditions that force them to leave, — the journalist explains.
Recall that earlier ICTV Facts told which countries will accept refugees from Ukraine in 2024 and under what conditions.
