São Paulo – The Swedish telecommunications technology Ericsson, and telecom operators Zain, from Kuwait, and Asiacell, from Iraq, have joined the Danish NGO Refugees United to help approximately 800,000 Syrian refugees reunite with their relatives via mobile services. The announcement was made during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
The operators will send messages to people living in refugee camps, offering them the opportunity to register onto a localization service via toll-free lines and text messages. The contacts will be managed by the Refugees United office, which will offer assistance with registering and other issues.
“Everyone has the right to know where their family is. We are seeing camps quickly become crowded and family members losing touch with each other. We hope that the launch of this service and our toll-free line can prevent some family tragedies,” said Christopher Mikkelsen, a co-founder of Refugees United, as per a press release issued by Ericsson.
The Swedish company will help develop and maintain the mobile platform, in addition to providing technical support and integrating the tool with the Iraqi and Jordanian networks. Apart from the toll-free line and the SMS service, the project includes a free mobile application for people to register.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.25 million Syrians are internally displaced, and 2.4 million are living as refugees in neighbouring countries.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
