Since mid-2013, the International Rescue Committee has promoted community awareness about violence against women, setting up services for survivors and supporting health workers. Dr. Ahmed is one of several key staffers at the IRC-supported health facility in Mogadishu, where the first survivor of sexual violence sought support in February 2014. Since then, the IRC team has helped more than 30 survivors.

An estimated 31 per cent of school-age children have never set foot in a classroom in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The IRC has been actively working to support increased enrollment and attendance by building and renovating school infrastructure, training teachers and subsidising school fees for impoverished students. The IRC is committed to giving boys and girls, as well as illiterate men and women, a second chance.

Photographs of 31 men, women, girls and boys, united by stories of displacement and disjuncture, formed the basis of a moving exhibit hosted by the IRC at the Union Club, Soho. They represent the 45,000 refugees in Greece who are preparing for plummeting temperatures this winter as they wait for their asylum applications to be processed.

Khawadah,* a Syrian refugee, has seen a lifetime of suffering. Like many women, she was forced to leave school to marry. Later, the war sent her into exile in Jordan. Despite such hardships, the 28-year-old refused to let her spirit whither, turning her sorrow into something meaningful, even beautiful.

The world’s richest continent is failing some of the world’s most vulnerable people. In the last two years, European governments have been unable or unwilling to agree a common humane response to people seeking refuge. This has resulted in the tragic loss of thousands of lives in the Mediterranean, a deplorable humanitarian situation in Europe, and women, men and children embarking on long and hazardous journeys through the continent.