TPG partners with UNHCR for "Gimme Shelter" campaign

Press Releases, 14 April 2009

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

Les Transports publics genevois (TPG) have joined with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency to help raise funds for Congolese refugees by screening the "Gimme Shelter" campaign on their innova screens.

GENEVA – Les Transports publics genevois (TPG) is joining UNHCR to support the organisation's global "Gimme Shelter" campaign, aiding those uprooted by the continuing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The "Gimme Shelter" campaign features a short film directed by Ben Affleck and filmed by John Toll, both Academy Award winners, as its centrepiece.

TPG is partnering with UNHCR by displaying Affleck's film on the innova screens located on over 200 TPG buses, trams and trolleybuses. A 30-second version of "Gimme Shelter" will screen on TPG from April 15 until June 30, 2009.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said of the campaign: "Gimme Shelter is one of the key ways to help people understand the plight of refugees who are forced to move and have no shelter. "Shelter" meaning not only physical shelter, but also respect for their rights and the capacity to live in safety and in dignity."

Shot in North Kivu Province, the film captures the unseen suffering of Congolese families who fled the fighting with next to nothing and are now forced to find refuge in makeshift huts with little to live on.

The goal of the "Gimme Shelter" campaign is to raise funds in 2009 for UNHCR – the UN refugee agency, to pay for clean water and emergency humanitarian assistance kits in the region. The campaigns slogan, "It's Just a Click Away," underscores the ability of each individual to make a difference. By donating at www.unhcrshelter.org or joining the cause on facebook at www.causes.com/refugee viewers will be helping ease the plight of millions.

There are currently 1.3 million displaced people in the DRC. The effects of the conflict have claimed as many as 5.4 million lives in the last 10 years, with an estimated 1,000 people dying every day. In some areas, two out of three women have been raped. Abductions persist in all brutal forms and children are forcefully recruited to fight. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseases have increased as the humanitarian situation deteriorates.

The "Gimme Shelter" campaign is a collaborative effort to raise awareness about the world's refugees and their need for protection, particularly those in the DRC. In pursuing this aim, various partners have provided UNHCR with resources and expertise. Paolo Nuttini has done a recording of "Gimme Shelter" set to a shorter version of the film and available at www.unhcrshelter.org. Sponsors and partners include Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, freud communications, Working Title Films, williamsworks, Kodak, PLY Media, TNT, Virgin Atlantic and ABCKO. We thank them for their contribution.

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