Reem Alsalem is regional public information officer for UNHCR’s Middle East and North Africa bureau. She is based in Amman. https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/contributor/reem-alsalem/rss en Displacement Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Reem Alsalem https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/07/12/syria-always-home-for-refugees-now-creating-them https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/07/12/syria-always-home-for-refugees-now-creating-them Displacement Wed, 26 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Reem Alsalem https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/06/26/the-turkey-diaries-part-ii https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/06/26/the-turkey-diaries-part-ii Reem Alsalem is the public information officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), based in Beirut. Earlier this month, she traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to work with urban refugees and others living outside of designated refugee camps. As she worked, Alsalem agreed to keep a diary for us, recording what she saw. Displacement Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Reem Alsalem https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/06/21/the-turkey-diaries-part-i https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/06/21/the-turkey-diaries-part-i Reem Alsalem is the public information officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), based in Beirut. Earlier this month, she traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to work with urban refugees and others living outside of designated refugee camps. As she worked, Alsalem agreed to keep a diary for us, recording what she saw. Displacement Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Reem Alsalem https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/05/16/egypt-and-syrian-refugees-its-complicated https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/05/16/egypt-and-syrian-refugees-its-complicated Every time I have to travel to Egypt, my heart jumps with joy like a little girl about to go to an amusement park. Egypt has and will always have a special place in my heart. It was the place I was born, it’s where I went to university, where I first fell in love, and, finally, where I started to work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Displacement Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Reem Alsalem https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/05/09/lessons-of-domiz-refugee-camp https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2013/05/09/lessons-of-domiz-refugee-camp I have to confess that when I set foot in Erbil Airport three weeks ago, I was nervous. I was on my way to visit Iraqi Kurdistan’s Domiz refugee camp, and I had not been to the Kurdistan region of Iraq in more than 13 years. Back then, when I worked with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Baghdad, I cannot profess to have really known Kurdistan or its population. The UN’s complicated relationship with Saddam Hussein was no secret, and has to some extent meant that our relations with the average Iraqi citizens back then – including its Kurdish population – was limited and awkward.