logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2021
38m 16s

Seeking Shelter

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
About this episode

From the world’s biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, to a stroll down the Champs Elysées (not that one, the other one) to a hair-raising, 1,200-kilometre journey in search of a new start in a Colombian town… “Seeking Shelter” looks at how the forcibly displaced find ways to adapt, survive and thrive once they have reached a place of safety.

In August 2017, facing unimaginable violence and the destruction of their villages, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown. In only three years, what had been an area of jungle quickly turned into a refugee camp the size of a full-blown city. In Jordan, meanwhile, some of the millions of displaced Syrians who found shelter in refugee camps have set up thriving markets, businesses, sports clubs, schools and more as they seek to rebuild their lives.

Today, however, most refugees are to be found not in camps but in urban or semi-urban areas, trying to find decent accommodation, make a living and give their children a good start in life – as the story of a remarkable Venezuelan couple illustrates.

Up next
Oct 2021
A Changing World
Seventy years since the 1951 Refugee Convention was signed, forced displacement is at record levels – more than 82 million people at the end of 2020, and rising every year for the past decade. In the final episode of this series of Forced To Flee, we look at the long-term options ... Show More
32m 35s
Oct 2021
New Beginnings
For many refugees trying to work out how to rebuild their lives, solutions can be hard to come by.  In “New Beginnings”, we meet refugees who have managed to start over even when rules, regulations and public attitudes seemed stacked against them. From Latin America to Europe to ... Show More
34m 39s
Oct 2021
Line of Fire
“Line of Fire” is the second of two episodes that delve into some of the major emergencies of the past 70 years. We begin with one of the most challenging humanitarian crises that UNHCR has faced: the devastating Bosnian wars of the 1990s, with a particular focus on the airlift t ... Show More
31m 25s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2020
Germany's refugee teachers
Five years on from the refugee crisis of 2015, Germany is now home to over a million refugees. Naomi Scherbel-Ball explores a classroom experiment with a difference: a scheme to retrain refugee teachers and place them in German schools, to help the country with a shortage of 40,0 ... Show More
50m 10s
Sep 2020
7. Xenophobia
How can America welcome refugees, embrace a humane approach to migration, and reclaim our identity as a nation of immigrants? With 80 million people displaced worldwide, this is a crisis even if it’s not always in the headlines.Host Ben Rhodes talks to Zarlasht Halaimzai - a refu ... Show More
45m 37s
Oct 2021
S3 Episode 3: The Migration Lessons of Afghanistan and Syria
In 2015, over a million people fleeing conflict arrived at Europe’s borders. The continent showed itself to be woefully underprepared, struggling to address the unfolding catastrophe at its doorstep: as decision makers wrangled over asylum quotas, a humanitarian crisis escalated ... Show More
28m 19s
Apr 2019
What refugees need to resettle | Muhammed Idris
Every minute, 20 people are newly displaced by climate change, economic crisis and political instability, according to the UNHCR. How can we help them overcome the barriers to starting new lives? TED Resident Muhammed Idris is leading a team of technologists, researchers and refu ... Show More
6m 10s
May 2022
Heba Gowayed, "Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential" (Princeton UP, 2022)
As the world confronts the largest refugee crisis since World War II, wealthy countries are being called upon to open their doors to the displaced, with the assumption that this will restore their prospects for a bright future. Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential (Prince ... Show More
55m 50s
May 2022
A safe pathway to resettlement for migrants and refugees | Becca Heller
“Human migration is both inevitable and growing. What are we as a global community doing to address it?” asks human rights lawyer Becca Heller, who believes that every refugee and migrant deserves a safe pathway to resettlement. Through her work with the International Refugee Ass ... Show More
16m 40s
Jun 2020
Introducing Living Abroad
Better education, better economic opportunities, better environment. Better life. We all chase it one way or another. For years people have been on the move in an endless search for happiness and a place to call their own. In this series, recorded completely remotely in a time wh ... Show More
2 m
Mar 2024
A path to social safety for migrant workers | Ashif Shaikh
Hundreds of millions of migrant workers travel within their countries to seek out means of survival — often leaving behind all they know for months or even years. Many face poverty and exploitation, and they need a robust social safety net to protect them, says migrant advocate a ... Show More
7m 29s