The refugee crisis of the Middle East left the world flabbergasted after the lifeless body of the Turkish toddler, Aylan Kurdi washed ashore the Greek Islands in 2015. Amnesty International Magazine following the predicament, featured a model in life jackets, lying on a bed of life jackets. This 'tasteless' part on the magazine's side has now come under extreme backlash for sexualising the crisis. The cover of Glamoria magazine, supposedly, an attempt to call for attention to the humanitarian disaster on the refugee camps in the Greek islands, has however apologised and also taken down their magazine cover after facing major backlash by other humanitarian organisations for sexualising the crisis.
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The organisation in an apology statement wrote, "We apologise for any offence this may have caused. We never intended to offend anyone and regret that the choice for the cover has been a distraction from our ongoing work to end the dire situation for many trapped on the Greek islands."
"We have removed the front cover of the magazine. Together with (former) refugees and activist we made a glossy magazine to draw attention to the sharp contrast between the luxurious lifestyle portrayed in magazines and the terrible situation of people in the camps," the organisation wrote.
One journalist, Jenan Moussa took to social media to express her anger on the magazine's 'tasteless' approach. ON her Twitter handle, she wrote, “Tasteless this. @amnestyNL makes online glossy about refugees & puts on cover a sensual model, half naked and draped in life jackets in order "to reach a broader audience". With thousands dead in the Mediterranean, its very disrespectful to sexualize the tragedy of refugees."
Moussa also shared a refugee’s response to the magazine’s cover on her Twitter account where the refugee had said, "Long story short, I arrived to Greece last year, wearing such life jacket. I was with my wife, two friends and 57 other refugees from different nationalities. And guess what.. most of the life jackets were too bad, I believed that they will never do the job in case our little lovely small crowded plastic boat drowned. There were children, women and men there." "I am not exactly sure why the lady in this photo looks... relaxed?" asked the refugee, adding, "I also don't know if you realise that most of the life jackets refugees are just useless (sic)."
Following the conflicts in the Middle East, the refugee crisis and migration across the Mediterranean Sea has soared regardless of life and death in their ordeal. A report from September 2018 said that over 1600 people had died just this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean.
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