The biggest threat to refugees is lack of understanding. When I started working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees some 24 years ago, I gave myself the task of trying to peel away the ignorance and change the way people think about refugees. Take this country, Sweden, as an example. When refugees arrive in a new neighborhood, there is no one there to help the people who live there understand who the refugees are, where they come from, to get people to meet. And not enough is done to prepare the refugees for a life of dignity in a new country. (March, 2011)
