NPR

December 21, 2018

How do you get people to pay attention to the plight of refugees?

The Amnesty International arm in the Netherlands had an idea. With the help of a Dutch media agency called Tosti Creative, they self-published several hundred copies of a 36-page magazine called Glamoria. It looks like a glossy fashion magazine, with a name that seems to be a spin on the word “glamour.” But Glamoria also references the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. The organization’s goal was to focus on the plight of refugees now living in camps on Greek islands.

On the cover, Dutch actress Jouman Fattal, who fled Syria as a child, is wearing a couple of strategically placed orange life jackets (which refugees use when traveling by boat). She’s wearing makeup and her hair floats above her head. Her midriff is exposed.

The magazine, published on December 12, contains articles about the plight of refugees. About 200 copies of the 36-page magazine were distributed to “relevant organizations, influencers and politicians,” according to Amnesty International Netherlands. In addition there was an online version.

The aid organization got plenty of attention – but not in the way they’d hoped.

Zaid Muhammad, who in his Facebook profile identifies himself as a refugee and is now living in the Netherlands, wrote on Facebook, “I’m not exactly sure why the lady in this photo looks … relaxed? … I also don’t know if you realize that most of the life jackets refugees [use] are just useless … I believed that they will never do the job in case our little lovely small crowded plastic boat drowned.”

Shaista Aziz, the co-founder of the nonprofit group Safe Space, which addresses issues of sexual harassment, abuse and violence, wrote an op-ed on the U.K. blog Media Diversified: “The woman’s only function in this photograph is to look like a passive sexualized object – she exists only to please all those who gaze at her.”