This document discusses Rotarians in Europe helping refugees and contains summaries from three speakers on this topic. The speakers were Elina Lehtinen from CMI in Finland, PDG Safak Alpay from Istanbul-Sisli RC in Turkey, and Roda Hassan, a refugee from Somalia who is now a translator and member of the Turku City Council in Finland. They spoke about the history and current status of the refugee crisis in Europe and ways that Rotarians can help refugees, such as forming an organization to plan, implement, and monitor assistance efforts. Countries should also work together to raise global and district grants to provide legal, educational, social, and medical support to refugees.

1. REFUGEES AND ROTARY
Rotarians in Europe helping
refugees
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
SEOUL, KOREA 2016
Coordinator: PDG Matias Röyttä
Turku International RC
Turku
Finland

2. “I HAVE A DREAM”
• When we are born everybody is equal
• ROTARY consists of multitalented people willing
to help
• “SERVICE ABOVE SELF”
• ROTARY FOUNDATION is one of the biggest
private organizations DOING GOOD IN THE
WORLD

3. EUROPE IS IN TURNMOIL
• REFUGEES with many faces of human catastrophe
• WHAT CAN WE AS ROTARIANS DO to help our sist
ers and
brothers in the middle of human catastrophe, es
pecially in Europe
• In this session there are THREE AUTSTANDING
SPEAKERS speaking about the history and
the current status of this human catastrophe and
present some means to help these people

4. THE SPEAKERS:
ELINA LEHTINEN
Director, Communications and fundraising
CMI (Crisis Management Initiative), Helsinki, Finland
PDG, RID SAFAK ALPAY
Istanbul-Sisli RC, Istanbul, Turkey
RODA HASSAN
Roda fled from Somalia to Finland 26 years ago.
Translator, member of Turku City Council. Member
of political party Green.

5. MARTTI AHTISAARI
THE NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE
2008
”Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be
settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them
to become eternal. It is simply intolerable that
violent conflicts defy resolution for decades causing
immeasurable human suffering, and preventing
economic and social development. ”

7. “Europe is a continent where nearly everyone
has at one time been a refugee. We Europeans
should know, and should never forget, why
giving refuge and complying with the
fundamental right to asylum is so important.”
President of the European Commission,
Jean-Claude Juncker

9. CMI’S VISION
All conflicts can be resolved

10. What people have started,
people can end.

11. •40 million internally displaced
•20 million displaced in neighbouring countries
•1,4 million in Europe
•All in all 60+ million refugees
Migrant crisis in numbers

12. Graphic and data: UNHCR, 2015

13. Sweden: ~ 150 000
Germany: ~ 500 000
Turkey: 2 800 000
Jordan: 700 000
Lebanon: 1 100 000
Finland: 35 000

14. •Failed governments
•Weak institutions
•Corruption
•Inequality (elite vs public)
•No proper rule of law
•No channels to express themselves
Root causes

15. CMI as an
independent actor

18. Global military expenditure
for one day is 4 billion euros.
That would pay for 100,000
rounds of peace talks.

19. Watch video

20. This picture summarizes my speech
from refugee to chairing city council

21. ▪ WHO office ,
Mogadishu ,
Somalia

22. My graduation and
boys graduation

23. My son in the
Finnish Army
(community
service)

24. My sons
graduation
High School

25. me and crown Princess
Victoria of Sweden in
this picture

26. Me in the
Campaing and in
Berbera Libarary,
SOmaliland

27. "From Somalia to Finland. My
experiences in being a refugee in
Finland"
WHY REFUGEES MIGRATE?

28. "From Somalia to Finland.
▪ World needs to address these
underlying root causes, rather than
struggling with symptoms.
▪ Accepting refugees, preventing them,
rejecting them, or even returning them
to their countries, are not sustainable.

29. "From Somalia to Finland.
▪ Refugees must be accommodated and
accepted on humanity basis.
▪ Special attention must be given to women
▪ Returning is difficult for mothers and their
children, who have already suffered a lot.
They were looking for better future for
themselves and for their children.

30. "From Somalia to Finland.
▪ Education and employment, are key for
women refugees.
▪ An educated mother, can prevent
radicalization from her children, because
she can immediately answer to their
questions about life.

31. "From Somalia to Finland.
▪ It is also important, to give special
attention, to young
▪ Employment and education prevent
isolation and radicalization. Sports too,
is key to youth integration.

33. SUMMING UP:

34. Actions to be taken ?
• Rotarian in Europe (with the help of Rotarians
outside Europe) form an internal Rotary
organization to plan, implement and monitor
• Countries should join to raise Global grants
• Also collect District grants
• Professional help: legal, educational, social
and medical from Clubs and individual
members of the Clubs

35. CAN WE BREAK THE BRANCH
AND START TO FLY ?
YES, WE CAN!