Estonian Human Rights Centre launched an awareness raising campaign on refugees in March. The managers of the campaign wrote a short overview about why the campaign was started and what the feedback has been.
When we wrote the project application in 2012, we knew that we wanted to raise awareness of the general public, meaning that our message would spread across the country. There are places in Estonia where the internet doesn’t reach which is why we thought that it is important to reach them as well. So it seemed reasonable to make a campaign. We decided to choose three channels which would guarantee a wide target audience – web, outdoor and direct mailing.
To find an agency that would be most suitable we announced a call for creative solutions. An expert committee chose the most suitable solution to be from a rather young agency – London AD.
The initial task of the campaign was simple: to explain who a refugee is. So we started with the most time consuming channel – web. We knew from the beginning that the webpage should be as interactive and user friendly as possible, so that the people who visit it could easily find out who a refugee is. That is why the webpage www.pagulane.ee (in Estonian) is based on a graphic journey of the refugee – from the moment he/she fled his/her country until he/she receives a refugee status in Estonia. Thoughts and explanations about interviews, the reception centre etc are show throughout the journey. The webpage is also available in Russian.
There were posters in five cities all over Estonia in order to support the launch of the webpage. The third part of the campaign was direct mailing so that we would be able to reach the target groups in rural areas as well as cities. On the postcards three different refugees told their stories so that people would understand that they were forced to flee their country. To guarantee that people will not throw the postcard away we had to make it as visually attractive as possible. That seemed to have worked since after sending out the postcards the visits to our website increased 90% and of course we received some direct feedback.
Some of that feedback was quite radical – there were people who seriously believe that accepting refugees it will increase crime and it will be at the expense of local people. Also there were arguments that the topic of refugees is not the most important topic in society so why should people help them.
We also received a lot of positive feedback which showed us that we are doing the right thing. The website has collected thousands of visits and around 230 people have shared it on Facebook.
The campaign is part of the awareness raising project on forced migration which is co-financed by Estonian Ministry of Interior and European Refugee Fund.
Since you are here...
It is important to protect everyone’s human rights, because it helps to keep stability and peace in the society. There are many challenges for protection of human rights in Estonia: intolerance has really come out of the closet. Bad things happen when good people are too passive, but together we can make a change.
Estonian Human Rights Centre is the competent, accountable and impactful independent human rights organisation in Estonia. Your recurring or one-time donation helps to stand up for human rights everywhere: in courts, in the media, in schools, in the workplace, on the streets and in governmental venues.
Donating is easy, and you can use your credit card if donating from abroad.
Donate now