‘Sesame Street’ for Refugees Gets $100 Million Fund for Change
A $100 million grant for refugee child education has been given to Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee. It will see child refugees get their own version of “Sesame Street.”
The funds are the first “big bet” by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, delivered through the “100&Change” competition. The popular children’s education and entertainment show will provide the content and inspiration for the new program.
“We are compelled to respond to the urgent Syrian refugee crisis by supporting what will be the largest early childhood-intervention program ever created in a humanitarian setting,” MacArthur president Julia Stasch said in a statement.
Education, she pointed out, accounts for less than 2 percent of the global humanitarian-aid budget. The Sesame and IRC project will focus on children displaced by conflict in the Middle East. It will feature a “Sesame Street” program, picture books, games and child development centers.
The $100 million will be spent over five years and builds on Sesame Workshop’s experience of adapting its programming for developing-world countries including Bangladesh. The international aid agency, IRC, meanwhile has experience from operations in refugee communities all over the world.
“At a time when governments are in retreat, NGOs and philanthropists need to step up, and that is what we are seeing here – and in a big way,” said IRC CEO David Miliband.
Outspoken U.N. Rights Commissioner to Step Down in 2018
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who has criticized governments over their treatment of refugees, will not seek a second term. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein will step down in 2018.
The Jordanian prince has attracted attention for his outspoken language, attacking countries by name. Last year he linked xenophobia toward refugees and migrants to a “resurgent broad-based malice, irresponsibility and sometimes eye-watering stupidity.”
Hussein may not have had the support of the U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres to seek another four-year term.
“After reflection, I have decided not to seek a second four-year term,” he wrote. “To do so, in the current geopolitical context, might involve bending a knee in supplication; muting a statement of advocacy; lessening the independence and integrity of my voice – which is your voice.”
It is also unclear whether the U.S. or Russia, both of whom he criticized, would have vetoed his reappointment.
In his departing email to his staff, Hussein said, “There are many months ahead of us: months of struggle, perhaps, and even grief – because although the past year has been arduous for many of us, it has been appalling for many of the people we serve.”
Denmark Ends Automatic Acceptance of U.N. Resettlement Program
Denmark has opted out of the U.N. refugee resettlement program. Under a new law, the country will not automatically accept a U.N. resettlement quota.
Until now Denmark has agreed to receive 500 refugees per year for resettlement. But a rise in asylum claims after larger inflows of refugee and migrants in 2015 has prompted a change in legislation.
From now on Denmark’s migration minister will decide how many U.N. resettlement cases it receives up to a ceiling of 500.
“It’s hard to predict how many refugees and migrants will show up at the border to seek asylum, and we know it may be hard to integrate those who arrive here,” immigration and integration minister Inger Stojberg said last month when her ministry proposed the law.
The opposition Social-Liberal Party criticized the change, saying the government was undermining the U.N. scheme and thereby increasing pressure on countries like Jordan and Lebanon, which actually host the vast majority of the world’s refugees.
Recommended Reads
- Al Jazeera: Lebanon: The Refugees’ Midwife
- The Guardian: Breaking Down the New Berlin Wall: Refugee Guides Show Their Side of City
- Relief Web: Rohingya Refugees Living on a Knife Edge in Bangladesh
- Amnesty International: Somalia: U.K.’s ‘Failed’ Refugee Policy Highlighted as Thousands Forced to Return From Dadaab Camp