I Am Here and I Exist

 The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and photographer Felipe Jácome opened up the exhibition “I Am Here and I Exist,” bringing attention to issue of birth registration for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. NRC Country Director Niamh Murnaghan addressed the crowd to talk about the issue that had inspired the photographs in the Dar al Mussawir space.
 

“Birth registration doesn’t really come to the fore when we’re thinking about the challenges that refugees face. But without civil documentation, without a birth certificate, children are at risk of being stateless and that’s a really dangerous situation for children when they are outside their home country because it means that they have no legal identity here and also it may make it very challenging for them to return home to Syria when it’s safe for them to do so,” Murnaghan said.