Student winner of UN journalism prize advocates spotlight on refugees

Returning from a trip to Romania, the winner of a United Nations competition for the best article on asylum-seekers among journalism students in Ireland said it was crucial for journalists to meet refugees and hear their stories.

“Sometimes people are afraid to approach refugees. But when I visited the reception centres in Bucharest I discovered how open refugees are speaking with you,” said Tara Finglas, a 22 year-old student who won the trip through Pia Prytz Phiri, the Dublin representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Most of all I found that refugees want you to listen to their stories. They are not just another number or name, they are real people,” the student journalist added.

Ms. Finglas was awarded first place in the competition for her article on the myths that surround asylum and refugees in Ireland. UNHCR ran the competition among students in Ireland's media schools in the hopes that it would promote good journalism on refugee issues.

Ms. Phiri said the stories in the competition all showed a great empathy for refugees, which made her hopeful of seeing fair journalism on refugee issues in Ireland in the future.

“The idea was to try to engage students and young journalists, to give them an interest in refugees and the language they need to report on asylum. Asylum is a complex issue and it has been politicized in Europe and elsewhere,” she said.

“Frequently, refugees are confused with economic migrants, and refugees are depicted as simply being ‘out for jobs,’ whereas the truth is far from this. Refugees are fleeing their homes out of fear for their lives to seek safety here, and nothing short of this,” she said.