By IANS
New Delhi : The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India and the Centre for North-East Studies and Policy Research (CNES) Tuesday announced three fellowships for print media journalists interested in writing on refugee issues.
The fellowships, called the UNHCR-CNES Refugee Media Fellowships will each be of three months’ duration. The first fellowship will begin from March and the subsequent ones will run consecutively through till November 2008.
Each fellowship will carry an individual award of Rs. 45,000, meant for travel and research.
“It is hoped that through this opportunity for an in-depth review of refugee issues, journalists will be strengthened in their efforts to inform public opinion,” said Carol Batchelor, Chief of Mission, UNHCR India.
Sanjoy Hazarika, managing trustee of C-NES said: “The effort is to build capacity and better understanding among journalists interested in refugee issues, especially at the middle-level, but also to publish their findings and observations extensively in the Indian media.”
The themes of the fellowships include ‘The Chins of Myanmar: Refugee Life in a Distant Neighbour (March-to-June)’, ‘The Need for a Refugee specific legislation in India (June to Aug)’ and ‘Sri Lankan Refugees: Away from home across the Palk Straits (Sep to Nov).
Authorities said the fellowships would give journalists an opportunity to look at issues relating to refugee movements into the country, the condition of refugees and the problems of mixed migration.
The age limit for media fellows is 30-45 years.