How technology is helping the refugees to get to Europe in safety

Article published on Olhar Digital on 10/11/2015

“To make the world a better place” is a commonplace expression in the technology industry and became a joke, something seen with distrust in Silicon Valley. But it takes just a glimpse at how the refugees coming to Europe are using day-to-day services to understand that sometimes the expression makes a lot of sense.

The continent faces its major migration crisis since the World War II, with dozens of people running away from the civil conflicts that take place mainly in Syria. The difference is that this time, technology provides an important support — and not the complicated, specific technology, but the mundane one, things such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Google Maps.

Instead of trusting life to human smugglers, many migrants are gathering around those who own smartphones. They exchange photos, maps and important information with others in different positions. Queries like, “Did your route work?”, “Is there any food?”, “Are the locals keen to help?” and “Can the policing be a problem?” are mixed with things like, “Is it possible to charge electronic devices?” and “Is there Wi-Fi on the way?”

Social media is used to get information about the relatives’ situation, to share real-time data and follow the news — something vital, once the European governments have addressed the circumstances with such caution that frontiers can be opened or closed in a matter of hours.

Facebook groups and Google Docs’ documents were created for the sharing of coordinates that lead travellers to places of interest. The constant update of these platforms allows them to manage supplements according to the number of attended people.

Some perceived the situation and started taking advantage of the migrants: It is possible to find a US$ 1,50 phone chip being sold for more than US$ 20, depending on the area and the seller. And many taxi drivers get to the point of quintupling their fees.

On the other hand, others try to help. In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, a group is offering free Wi-Fi so that the travellers don’t need to spend small fortunes using international roaming. When people are connected there, they get access to an app that informs the right prices for taxi fees, the location of bathrooms and places to find food, among other things.

European media is full of examples showing how technology has helped travellers to avoid tricky situations. Irish Times accompanied the 20 years-old Afghan Ramiz, which became an involuntary leader because he had a mobile phone able to access the internet. “This is how we travel. How do you think we got here?”, questioned him to the reporter when they were at the Hungary frontier. An earlier group was confronted by police officers, but, amid the confusion, someone saw a gap to send a message to those coming later as a warning that that was not a good route. Ramiz did the same when he realised that he was not on a good path too.

Business Insider brings another story, which happened last week, when Hungary had supposedly tried to ambush hundreds of migrants by making them believe that a specific train was going to Austria and Germany, when it was actually going to be redirected to a refugee camp. Before getting on board, people managed to communicate with others at the Budapest station and decided not to face the travel.