Film Title:  Global View 2009

Company:  The UN Refugee Agency

Age Range:  High school

Does not include teaching materials

Topic:  War, Human Rights, Volunteer Work

Subject Areas:  Human rights, Nationalism, Racism, Immigration, Persecution and War, Government, Social Studies, History, Freedom

Film Synopsis:  About UNHCR’s help to the victims of war all over the globe in 2009.

Running Time and Sections:  9 different sections—about 35 minutes total

Alex’s Review:

The UNHCR, also known as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was created in December of 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. This agency was created to lead “international actions to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide,” with a primary purpose in safeguarding the rights and well-beings of refugees. In its existence, the agency has helped millions of people restart their lives in more than 125 countries. Anyone can become involved with UNHCR through internships, donations, or volunteer work. This agency is committed to helping refugees and stateless people, especially young children, older people, and women. You can be a part of this 60 year agency as well; all you have to do is want to.

The main purpose of this DVD is to showcase how UNHCR has helped many different refugees from various countries cope with their situation and to show how these people overcome their situations in life. Living in America, we are very blessed at our current situation in life. I cannot even imagine being in the shoes of a refugee and having to flee from everything you know and your home because of the violence that your country is suffering. To flee to an unknown place and try to survive. Yet, the saddest thing is you might lose family members along the way and become separated from the people you love. You come to this new country and you might be worse off, in terms of being hungry, without shelter, and thirsty, than you were in your own home. But the reasons why they fled, I would like to believe, far outweigh the negatives of being a refugee. This video would be great to watch in class and have students comment on their feelings regarding refugees and maybe create a class project as to how they could help UNHCR and refugees themselves.

Considering this is a “global view” this DVD illustrates different events and situations in the world, and displays all the refugees and violence of 2009 and UNHCR’s role in these stories. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence from 2008 continued into 2009 and caused many upheavals. In Djibouti and Yemen, Somali people flee to these countries because of an upsurge of violence in their own country.  In Georgia, violence causes many people of the eastern part of the country to flee (some even into Russia); this causes many innocent civilians to be caught in the middle, luckily UNHCR came to help. In Afghanistan, starting in 2002 there was an increase of hope in a bright future, but as time continued and many people lost hope, many are left hungry and hopeless. In Central Africa, continuing violence causes many to flee. In Bhutan, during the 1990’s people fled to Nepal and considering they are unable to return, are now leaving to start over in various countries, such as Canada, Denmark, America, and the Netherlands, with the help of UNHCR. There are many more stories in this DVD and I would suggest everybody to watch it and be thankful for their current situation in life.