Display of 23 photographs at Dubai exhibition depicts plight of refugees

‘People on the Move’ will be on display at the MSF offices in International Humanitarian City until June 24.

Souleman was rescued on August 23 last year from a rubber boat, along with his wife Layla and son Cillian, 2, during the maiden voyage of the Sea-Watch 4. They were trying to leave Libya and were taken to a quarantine ferry in Palermo, Italy. MSF

Sawkina, 27. She is a Rohingya refugee. Although she was born and raised in Malaysia, she does not have Malaysian nationality. She has been granted UN refugee status but a broken leg from a traffic accident has prevented her from working for several weeks. Arnaud Finistre / MSF

A migrant shows the wounds allegedly inflicted on him by Croatian police. Two days earlier, he had come back from the Bosnian border with Croatia to a nearby squat in an abandoned former factory. Kristof Vadino / MSF

The Hamadayet border crossing, where refugees from Ethiopia cross a river into Sudan. New arrivals take whatever belongings they can carry with them. Some have their livestock but others left with nothing. Jason Rizzo / MSF

A young woman cooks an evening meal for her family in Abagana camp, Nigeria. Scott Hamilton / MSF

Refugees in Zintan DC, Libya, at the gate of the main warehouse where 700 of them were detained. Jerome Tubiana / MSF

Daily life at a camp for internally displaced people in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thousands fled their homes because of intercommunal violence. Pablo Garrigos / MSF

A young survivor, just six-days-old, on board the 'Ocean Viking' rescue ship operated by MSF. She was rescued from a wooden boat in September 2019 at just four-days-old, along with her mother and older brother. Hannah Wallace Bowman/MSF

MSF and SOS Mediterranee teams on board the 'Ocean Viking' rescued 84 people in February 2020 from a dangerously overcrowded wooden boat off the coast of Libya. Hannah Wallace Bowman / MSF

Rahamu, in the orange scarf, is the chosen representative of a number of displaced people who live on an old construction site in the Zamfara state in Nigeria. Rahamu’s former village is now deserted. Benedicte Kurzen/Noor

A resident in Bama camp, Nigeria, chops firewood, a precious commodity for many displaced people. Scott Hamilton / MSF

Displaced children in Lanao del Sur, the Philippines, play near the Sagunsungan camp more than two years since fighting in the regional capital, Marawi, between the government and extremist rebels. Veejay Villafranca / MSF

Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee teams conducting simulation search and rescue exercises at sea. Anthony Jean / SOS Mediterranee

More than 200 migrants were rescued by the Sea-Watch 4 in August 2020. Hannah Wallace Bowman / MSF

Since the end of March 2019, more than 15,0000 people have been displaced from Yemen's northern Hajjah governorate, adding to an existing 100,000 people already displaced. Hareth Mohammed/MSF

Syrian-Kurdish refugees play football inside the Bardarah refugee camp, Iraq, in October 2019. Moises Saman / Magnum Photos

A girl, 12, in Katale camp in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. She does her homework during the last daylight hours in front of her hut. Pablo Garrigos / MSF

In Turin, hundreds of marginalised migrants and refugees live in four buildings of the Italian city's former 2006 Olympic Village, facing overcrowding, no heating and frequent disruptions to water and electricity supplies. Giuseppe La Rosa / MSF

La Bestia, known as the Death Train, is used as a means of transportation by migrants, mainly Salvadorans, Hondurans and Guatemalans, trying to reach the US. Leo Coulongeat / Hans Lucas

Newly arrived Syrian-Kurdish refugees on a bus operated by the International Organisation for Migration in Iraq's Sahela Border Crossing in November 2019. Moises Saman / Magnum Photos

The day after a September 2020 fire destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Enri Canaj / Magnum

As Medecins Sans Frontieres marks its 50th anniversary, it is calling on European Union leaders to change their approach to migration to prevent further suffering to asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants.

The independent humanitarian organisation, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said governments need to stop "intensifying containment and deterrence policies", because it is causing avoidable harm to the health and well-being of men, women and children trying to escape conflict and crisis in their home countries.

In a series of photographs that recently went on display in Dubai, Mario Stephan, executive director of the MSF UAE regional office, said the exhibition has been launched to highlight the plight of displaced people around the world, ahead of World Refugee Day on Sunday.

"Many of the patients we work with are refugees," he told The National.

“With this photo exhibition it made sense to highlight the reality and plight of our patients and bring attention to global crises that are ongoing but out of the media limelight.

"We are giving a voice to the often voiceless and our mission is to always keep shedding light on situations that might have fallen out of the headlines."

The gallery, called ‘People on the Move’, will be on display at the MSF offices in International Humanitarian City in Dubai until June 24.

It displays more than 20 photos taken in the field from countries including Libya, Greece, Bangladesh and Sudan.

From the Rohingya displacement crisis to conflicts in Mali, the thought-provoking photographs capture the lives of refugees as they live them.

From babies being born in refugee camps to migrants showing evidence of torture inflicted by policing authorities, Mr Stephan said “nobody chooses this life”.

"We need to keep reminding the public that people on the move, those fleeing conflict and crises, are men, women and children who have no choice but to escape their situation," he said.

“One has to understand, what drives them to such extremes? I think this photo gallery highlights their reality in an honest and sobering way.”

Mr Stephan said many migrants are found at sea in packed dinghys that are unsafe for travel.

As well as seasickness, dehydration and scabies, MSF staff commonly treat people with chemical burns, the result of a toxic mix of petrol and seawater.

One rescued person, a teenager, was so badly burnt that staff had to arrange a medical evacuation, he said.

According to its latest 2019 International Activity Report, about 65,000 staff from Doctors Without Borders provided medical and humanitarian assistance to people in more than 70 countries in 2019.

About 80 per cent of the staff were hired in the countries where help was needed, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Yemen.