Promoting the Cultural Rights of Refugees in the Context of the Syrian Crisis

The case of the Ideas Box

Abstract

This article is framed by the legal concept of 'protracted refugee situation' (PRS), and the strategic means by which Cultural Rights has been interjected as a factor in refugee support. With particular reference to the project Ideas Box, developed by the German Goethe-Institut (initiated by Libraries Without Borders (LWB) in 2014), the article attempts to define how the project flags up the centrality of information, education and social interaction with effective strategies for providing a humane and productive refugee support. Access to information and education plays a crucial role in providing a basis for the exercise of Cultural Rights, and where Rights become a precondition for developing strategic long-term planning and responding to the fundamental needs of subjects like refugees in PRS situations.