Night of the Refugee runners raise more than 1.6 million euros

The thousands of participants in the Night of the Refugee have raised over 1.6 million euros for emergency aid to refugees worldwide. That is a higher yield than last year when the counter stood at 1.27 million euros. The amount could increase slightly. A record of 7,000 people participated in the walk on Saturday, organized by the Refugee Foundation.

The organization sees the great enthusiasm as a counterbalance to the "rough wind that has been blowing for vulnerable people on the run." The director of the Refugee Foundation, Tineke Ceelen, said, "There is also this side to our country. The side of warmth, solidarity, and compassion for vulnerable people. In the past, the Netherlands has been tolerant, hospitable, and generous towards refugees, and that will remain the case in 2024."

Runners could participate in five cities: Tilburg, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Amersfoort, and Nijmegen. Some participants ran 40 kilometers overnight from these cities to another city. The destinations were Den Bosch, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem. The first group of walkers started at 6 p.m. for a shorter distance of 10 or 20 kilometers. The runners were raising money for refugee aid by being sponsored.

"The participants include people with their own refugee history and organizations that are committed to this issue on a daily basis," the organization said. "This makes for great encounters and conversations along the way."

The money raised in this fifteenth edition is mainly intended for the Yazidi community in Iraq and for refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, and Chad.

According to the organization, it has been ten years since ISIS fighters attacked the Yazidi community in Iraq, where many people were killed, raped, or kidnapped. As a result, about 450,000 people living in the Sinjar area had to flee. To this day, only half of the people have been able to return home. It is still unsafe, houses are in ruins, and there is a great shortage of facilities.

People in the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing similar situations, as the rebel group M23 has brutally conquered more and more territory in eastern DRC in recent months. In the past five months alone, more than 600,000 people have fled the area, the organizers explained.