Topic: European Refugee Crisis

Feb 17, 2017

“Often refugees are defined by what they have lost, which is a lot," HIAS VP Melanie Nezer said in a recent Tedx talk on the global refugee crisis. "Their homes, their jobs, their communities, their friends and, in many cases, family members. But they also have a lot of things. They have hope. They have education. They have skills. And they have a great desire to live in peace.”

Jun 21, 2016

More than 65 million people were displaced by war and persecution by the end of 2015, according to a report released on World Refugee Day by the U.N. refugee agency. Here’s what you need to know.

May 10, 2016

Before she was the face of AT&T and the founder of Can’t Do Nothing, a non-profit dedicated to getting people engaged with the Syrian refugee crisis, Milana Vayntrub was a refugee herself. She explains why she can’t do nothing, and you shouldn’t either.

Mar 29, 2016

In advance of high-level meetings in Geneva on Global Responsibility Sharing through Pathways for Admission of Syrian Refugees, HIAS joined more than a dozen other refugee protection organizations to call upon states to to pledge to achieve the UNHCR target of resettlement and alternative pathways for at least 10 percent of Syria’s nearly five million refugees.

Mar 20, 2016

The European Union and the Turkish Government struck a deal on Friday to return refugees and migrants who make it to the E.U. back to Turkey.

Feb 24, 2016

This week, the International Organization for Migration reported that more than 100,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Greece and Italy this year. And it's only February. Here’s what you need to know.

Feb 22, 2016

The Holocaust survivors in the Righteous Conversations Project are very aware of the experience of the refugee and those who seek asylum and rescue from murderous regimes. For them, this is more than a problem that is unfolding on the other side of the planet. It is a story with kinship to their own. Recently, Los Angeles area high school students and Holocaust survivors teamed up to make a series of video public service announcements.

Dec 29, 2015

A barber. A tailor. A carpenter. Elementary and pre-school kids. Just a few of the Syrian refugees HIAS President Mark Hetfield met on a recent visit to Toledo, Ohio.

Dec 11, 2015

Before September 2, refugees were one more important issue on a long list of social ills, but after that day, there was a great outpouring of Jewish interest and communal support for refugees. Congregations, individuals, schools, organizations -- everyone wanted to know how they could help, and especially how they could support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their communities.

Nov 16, 2015

WASHINGTON—Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, released the following statement in response to the attacks in Paris and Beirut last week.