DS Smith Charitable Foundation donates €50 000 to the Red Cross to help refugees

Anyone who has watched the news on television or opened a newspaper in the last year will have seen harrowing stories about refugees. More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015.

DS Smith employees recently suggested that a donation to the International Red Cross would be the best way to get help where it was needed.  The DS Smith Charitable Foundation gave €50,000 to the International Red Cross to help with its work with migrants.

Rural Damascus, Madaya. ICRC medical personnel assess and examine cases of malnutrition among children. Photographer : Somar Rezk, Copyright : ICRC

The International Red Cross helps migrants in many different ways: there are rescue operations at sea, providing psychosocial support during this traumatic time and reuniting families torn apart by the arduous journey to name just a few.

The conflict in Syria continues to be by far the biggest driver of the migration. But the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, abuses in Eritrea, as well as poverty in Kosovo are also leading people to look for new lives elsewhere.

During a water crises, displaced people were filling water from the ICRC water trucks. Photographer : Jack Kas Barsoum, Copyright : ICRC

Tensions in the EU have been rising because of the disproportionate burden faced by some countries, particularly Greece, Italy and Hungary where migrants have been arriving by boat and overland.  According to the  International Organisation for Migration, more than 3,695 migrants are reported to have died trying to make the crossing this year - most of those died on the crossing from north Africa, more than 700 died in the Aegean crossing from Turkey to Greece.

If you would like to learn more about, or donate to, the International Red Cross please visit their website at www.icrc.org.

You can learn more about DS Smith’s Charitable Foundation work with charities and communities here.