How two men and a WhatsApp group rescued scores of Afghan heroes

Refugee camps save lives in emergencies – but often refugees languish there for decades. Two columns on programs that allow refugees to live normally in cities, with an ATM card taking the place of a camp.

The Seal Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews is recruiting and tagging pinnipeds to gather details on ocean conductivity, temperature and depth, collectively called “CTD profiles.” When tagged animals surface, the data they’ve collected are relayed to a global satellite system, decoded by computers, and disseminated to researchers.

American humanitarian aid and programs by the United Nations have proved beneficial to equip Middle Eastern refugees with resources for self-settlement outside of camps. The self-settlement model has empowered refugees to become more productive members of society when they return home.

International students and the city of Flint, Michigan, have an imperfect but beneficial relationship. The city is a cheap and accommodating place for students to get their foot in the U.S., and the students bring their business; thus, boosting the desperate economy.

In Germany child refugee homes are overwhelmed with unaccompanied minors. Adoption is one solution to quickly get these kids into homes, but many kids refuse because their family is far away but alive.

Different nations try different methods of peace building. International research suggests that military integration is essential and can be achieved through political education, guaranteeing personal welfare, socialization, and professionalization.

Since 2003, the Dublin Protocol has stopped migrants from traveling through Europe to auspicious countries before claiming asylum. However, many migrants travel by sea—which is more perilous and has led to high rates of death. Germany is the first country European country to break from the Dublin Protocol by letting in Syrian refugees.

Crushing poverty and extreme violence - fueled by drug trafficking and police corruption - are behind a mass migration of Central American children to the United States in recent months that has overwhelmed U.S. border resources and driven illegal immigration to the fore in U.S. congressional elections. But the United Nations has praised Nicaragua's security model, which includes social services to help youths in gangs find jobs as well as sport programs like little-league baseball teams.

Refugee camps typically look like a prison with squalid conditions and barbed wire tops. By contrast, the Kilis refugee camp in Turkey is orderly, secure, and clean; has schools for children; has grocery stores, and is powered with electricity. The camp is not run by the United Nations, but rather it is Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency that oversees every detail and pours billions of dollars into maintaining it every year.

World Concern, a Seattle-based Christian humanitarian group, provides people around the world with vouchers they can use in select markets, rather than the traditional emergency food aid of rice and other grains. In Dhobley, Somalia, the solution of vouchers quickens the process of receiving the food and contributes to the local economy.