A gun in the face: Davos ploy to reshape refugee debate

DAVOS (Reuters) – As businessman and bankers sip their morning coffee in a hotel lobby, admiring the Swiss Alps, a disturbing scene is unfolding in the car park below: men with guns are ordering people onto their knees and stealing their watches.

“A Day in the Life of a Refugee”, an hour-long simulation that aims to give people a taste of being an asylum-seeker, has been held for the past 11 years at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. Its organizers say it has never been needed more than now.

With anti-immigration policies gaining major support across Western countries, the aid group that runs the simulation wants politicians, officials and chief executives attending Davos to understand the issue from the frightening perspective of a refugee.

“It’s more effective now, the message,” said Sally Begbie, director of Hong Kong-based Crossroads Foundation. “We bring it to Davos because there are people making policy here. We want to give them a brief opportunity to step in a refugee’s shoes.”

Summit organizers have also included refugees in the main program — a long-term resident of a Kenyan refugee camp is a co-chair this year. But beyond Davos, refugee groups say doors are closing, especially in Europe.