Background
Launched in January 2023, the New Year, Old Policies campaign was a collaboration between Collective Aid, Calais Appeal, Hermine.ev, Border Violence Monitoring Network, Europe Must Act, and ForRefugees. The campaign sought to spread the voices of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants bottlenecked at the borders of the EU because of unjust and unrealistic asylum procedures.
Refugees and people on the move were asked two questions and their answers were shared online and promoted through posters in public places and advertising at bus stops. Members of the public could download and print these posters, which were available in multiple languages, and post them in their local communities.
When sharing online, supporters were encouraged to tag specific politicians in their posts in the hope that they would see the message.
The questions asked to refugees and people on the move were:
1) What would you say to the government of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or France?
2) What would you say to the government of the country you would like to go to?
“We’re all looking for a safe future for us and our families.”
Outcome
Dozens of organisations and hundreds of people shared the messages of refugees and displaced people, helping them gain hundreds of likes and tens of thousands of impressions online, and successfully bringing their voices to a wider audience.
“Some of us escaped poverty, others death.
All of us are looking for a brighter future.”
