Colombian singer helps UN refugee agency raise awareness in Spain

The United Nations refugee agency has launched an awareness campaign in Spain on behalf of refugees and internally displaced people with a concert by Colombian singer Juanes in the north-western town of La Coruña.

"It was not easy to grow up in a country where bombs were exploding every day," the singer, born in the Andean country plagued by four decades of civil war and drug trafficking, told the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). "People in my country have suffered and are still suffering a lot. At the same time, it seems incredible people's capacity to keep moving forward, their desire to live."

He added, "I want to help them. It is a question of conscience that we all should help. I am the father of two children and I wish for the young Colombian generation a positive future."

The Medellín-born singer opened the concert on Friday with the song, "Sueños (Dreams)," appealing for peace and the release of people taken hostage in the Colombian conflict. Two giant video screens showed images of the victims of the clashes as Juanes followed up with "Que pasa (What's happening)” and expressed his solidarity with the world's most vulnerable people. The crowd went wild and his Colombian fans waved their colourful flags in excitement.

Juanes has also been raising awareness through radio spots that were first used for World Refugee Day on 20 June and are now part of the publicity surrounding his series of concerts in Spain, which will run until mid-September.

"What's it like to be a refugee?" he asks in one of the four radio spots set to the "Sueños" soundtrack. "To see your husband shot and your village burned. A widow at 17, the challenge of a new life."