{"id":3502,"date":"2016-06-20T14:59:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=3502"},"modified":"2016-06-20T14:59:01","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:59:01","slug":"call-better-digital-information-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/society-politics\/call-better-digital-information-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for better digital information for refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the UK marks the start of Refugee Week<\/a> (20-26 June), one of the OU\u2019s leading academics has identified a serious gap in the provision of trustworthy, relevant reliable and timely news and information which could be putting lives at risk. Professor Marie Gillespie<\/a> has been conducting research into this issue, and argues that the answer to the problem could lie in the effective use of smart phones, which are an increasingly essential tool for refugees as they make their journeys.<\/p>\n

Professor Gillespie is using her research<\/a> to call for European governments to provide better information resources for refugees and to fulfil their responsibilities under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to provide timely legal, medical and practical news and information. Failure to do so, she argues, is putting lives at risk:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hoping that the European Commission will take more assertive action and work together with European Member States to fund initiatives that will provide better information for refugees to enable them to find the protection that they need. The research identified a range of information needs and a set of best practice principles for those providing information for refugees.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n