THOR
(The Health Of Refugees)
SCORP CIMSA PEMA FK USU
Every individual created by God is different and unique. When a human is born, we have basic rights or better known as human rights. Human rights are rights inherent in all humans, regardless of race, gender, sex, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and freedom; freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression; the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without any discrimination.
Refugees or asylum seekers are a group of people who are vulnerable to human rights violations, they even have to leave their country and seek protection from other countries. According to the 1951 Convention, refugee status is defined as “a person who is caused by a reasonable fear of persecution, which is caused by reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in certain social groups and political parties, outside his national state and does not want protection from that country. According to data from United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in April 2020, the number of cumulative refugees in Indonesia was 13,515 people from 45 different countries, with Afghanistan being the largest contributor, followed by Somalia. Even though Indonesia is merely a transit country, Indonesia’s obligation is not only to accommodate them but also to guarantee their basic needs of rights are fulfilled.
Indonesian government realizes and fulfills their rights to education by allowing them to the public schools in the city where they are placed. What about the right to health? In this case, the government also realizes and fulfills their rights by giving them access to primary health care facilities when they feel sick. Assessment will be carried out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), if their conditions require medical indications, they will be referred to secondary health care facilities.
This year, although in the midst of a pandemic, SCORP CIMSA USU is actively carrying out activities to commemorate World Refugees Day. The Health Of Refugees (THOR) was carried out for 2 days, on 27th-28th June 2020. THOR was SCORP CIMSA USU's first-ever event regarding refugees.
On 27th June 2020, SCORP CIMSA USU conducted an Instagram Live with dr. Augustinus Leonard Sembiring, a representative from the Medan branch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Instagram Live session was very exciting and innovative because it raises issues about refugees in pandemic conditions. More excitingly, our viewers were extremely curious to know more about refugees, and the live session was overflowing with amazing questions that were answered by dr. Augustinus. We also gave out a pretest and posttest to measure the impact of our activity.
On the second day of THOR, SCORP CIMSA USU collaborated with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to release a podcast on Spotify. The recording was done a week before through Skype and released a week later on Spotify. This podcast is certainly very informative for Spotify’s loyal listeners. In this podcast, we discussed with UNHCR about the differences between refugees and asylum seekers. SCORP CIMSA USU is also honored to be the first partner of UNHCR to do a podcast.
Surely, THOR would not have run well if there were no support and guidance from LO UNA CIMSA Indonesia, Officials CIMSA USU, THOR Organising Committee, and all external parties involved. Through this activity, we hope that Indonesian people will get to know more about the conditions and rights of refugees as well as the organizations working hard in the field of refugee rights.
