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NEW DELHI: Earlier this week, harrowing images of three year old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach went viral. In the days that followed, world leaders came out in support of welcoming more refugees, a debate gripped the European Commission on refugee policy, the Pope pledged to open his home to refugees… the list goes on. The incident is proof that social media has a far reaching influence on public policy in the information age.
The image galvanised support for a very real crisis: Last year, the number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 50 million for the first time since the second world war. Half of these 50 million people are children, many of whom travel alone or in groups to escape war, famine, sexual violence and forced slavery.
"We are witnessing a quantum leap in forced displacement in the world," António Guterres, head of the UN's refugee agency, said of the crisis.
The reality is that there are millions of others like Aylan, whose stories have never been told and who remain forgotten. Here’s a look at ten images of refugees that did not go viral.
1. This crying Syrian boy
This crying Syrian boy who stands by a rubble of collapsed buildings hit by either pro or anti government forces in the battle torn country.
2. This man who died trying to reach Austria
This man died minutes after this image was taken, in Bicske, Hungary. He was trying to reach Austria and police believed he fell and hit his head as he broke free after two days of being held at a train station. Hungarian authorities had stopped the train in attempt to force refugees to go to a nearby camp.
3. This Rohingya Man
A Rohingya man pleads with authorities as families try to shelter on a typical boat used by migrants to escape the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area. Rohingya Muslims remain one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, fleeing the Rakhine state in Myanmar in boats, they are often left at sea to drown with countries refusing entry.
4. This Palestinian girl
A Palestinian refugee girl holds up a sign at a camp in the Iraqi desert. In 2012, the number of registered patrilineal descendants of the original "Palestine refugees", based on the UNRWA registration requirements, is estimated to be 4,950,000, of which an estimated 1,5 million live in UNRWA camps.
5. This South Sudanese refugee woman
The conflict in South Sudan, which won independence from Sudan in 2011, has left thousands dead and over a million displaced since December. The conflict began with a skirmish in the capital city of Juba between forces loyal to the President, Salva Kiir, and those loyal to the former Vice President, Riek Machar, spread from a city-wide to national conflict.
6. This Syrian refugee child
A Syrian Kurdish child cries as Turkish police search families bags. More than 1 million Syrians have fled into Turkey to escape the conflict in Syria.
7. And this Syrian refugee child
A Syrian refugee child cries at the Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria.
8. This refugee child from Kosovo
A child cries after a fire breaks out at a refugee camp in the capital city of Podgorica in Montenegro. The camp holds refugees from Kosovo and Metohija. By the end of April 1999, about 600,000 residents of Kosovo had become refugees; another 400,000 were displaced inside Kosovo -- the crisis continues today with many Kosavars still in refugee camps.
9. This Palestinian girl
This Palestinian girl’s father was wounded in an Israeli airstrike at a refugee camp.
10. These Afghan refugee children
2 year old Reza Khan (holding bottle), his twin brother (left) and two other children at an Afghanistan refugee camp. According to UNHCR, 2.1 million Afghan refugees were reported in 72 asylum countries.
