UNHCR TO INAUGURATE NEW INTERNET PRESENCE

Press Release
PI/973
REF/1151

UNHCR TO INAUGURATE NEW INTERNET PRESENCE

GENEVA, 1 October (UNHCR) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today the launch of a new Internet site to focus world opinion on refugees. The new UNHCR World Wide Web site, located at http://www.unhcr.ch, will feature a comprehensive look at the agency's existing documentation for the general public, along with texts outlining refugee issues in 90 countries, and a legal information data base drawn from the REFWORLD CD-ROM that is already produced by the agency.

"I am delighted that we can present this new resource", said High Commissioner Sadako Ogata. "I think it will prove to be not just a very valuable research tool but also an intriguing new look at some old and difficult issues. I think we will be seeing this site consulted by school- children as well as university students and people involved in refugee programmes. This diversity is very important to me. It's vital that we get the message out as widely as possible: refugees are not a threat, they are simply ordinary people in need of protection."

The launch of UNHCR's new Web site has been timed to coincide with the launch of a ground-breaking companion Web site that focused on displaced people in Bosnia: WITNESS, located at http://www.worldmedia/witness, has been co-produced by UNHCR and a French Internet company, WorldMedia Live. The site features panoramic virtual-reality photographs which provide a startlingly vivid look at life in Bosnia, and which are virtually unique on the Internet.

The UNHCR Web site will feature a photographic exhibition of refugees around the world. Special reports from villages all over Bosnia, in English, German and Bosno-Serbo-Croat are aimed at helping refugees to decide whether to return to their home villages. Press releases and other news-oriented documents will also be available at the site. A teacher's section provides guidance on how to integrate the refugee experience into lessons in history, geography and civics. The information is available both in quick-access text- only format and in graphic format, with maps and other features.

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