Displacement is a major challenge in the MENA region, with 16 million forcibly displaced and stateless people at the end of 2021, according to UNHCR1. The increase in the number of displaced people has undeniably contributed to growing hostility and to the exacerbation of hate speech toward them.  

The misperception of forced displaced people’s experiences, needs, and contributions to host societies is fed and amplified everywhere by mainstream media and politicians’ harmful narratives  of forced displacement, leading to increased exclusion, discrimination, and violence.  

Over the last decade, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) has supported dynamic memory initiatives across the MENA region in their efforts to support vulnerable communities to overcome trauma, heal and thrive while countering discrimination and promoting equity, inclusion, and peace in their societies.

Building on the knowledge gained through the series of online capacity-building workshops to counter hate speech in the MENA region, funded by the European Union, ICSC and its MENA members Act for the Disappeared (Lebanon), Gusoor (Yemen) and  Syrian Network for Human Rights (Syria) have co-designed and launched with six forcibly displaced people from the region a regional online campaign to counter harmful narratives on forced displacement and build new inclusive narratives that foster better understanding of the positive role forcibly displaced persons play in host societies.

The campaign aims to:

• Speak out against hate speech and discrimination towards displaced persons.
• Share the stories and experiences of the resilience of forcibly displaced individuals
• Reinforce the principles of coexistence and social cohesion to promote a society that values and embraces all individuals.
• Advocate for policies that promote the empowerment of displaced persons and their integration into host communities.

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