About

In 2010 Tadamon partnered up with Danish NGO Refugees United to run the Cairo Family Tracing Project. The project aims to help refugees and displaced persons get in touch with missing loved ones through registering, free of charge, on an extremely extensive and comprehensive internet database, and creating a ‘profile’. You can do this at www.refunite.org (or at m.refunite.org through WAP enabled mobile phones). Once you have registered, you can then search for the profiles of people you have lost touch with by such criteria as name, date of birth, and place of birth, and other members will also be able to search for your profile. 

Because you create and have charge of your own profile, you can add as much or as little information as you feel comfortable revealing. All information included in your profile will be publicly available so it is entirely up to you how much they choose to include. While the greater the amount of information you include will increase your chances of being found, if you have any reason to fear your identity and whereabouts being made known, you can register anonymously with only a small amount of information which will identify you to family and close friends. Examples of information which could be used on a profile include favourite song, a nickname, or a scar. You can then exchange messages with people you have found, or been found by, through the website’s messaging system and can be notified by email when you receive a message. 

Further Information

It is important to remember that, once registered, you must log in frequently to check your messages. It is recommended that you provide an email address when you register, if possible, so you can be notified when you receive a message. This will also allow you to reset your log-in details if you misplace them.

We would always suggest that you confirm the identity of the people with whom you are communicating, by asking questions only your loved ones would know the answer to, before giving out any personal details or contact information.

Individuals can register on behalf of another, although this must only occur if the person who is being registered has consented, and has specified what information they are comfortable including on their profile.

Children under 18 are allowed to register, but are not allowed to include their date of birth on their profile. This is to protect minors and keep anyone from being able to search specifically for the most vulnerable.

Background

Refugees United was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is a not-for-profit organisation which seeks to use the tools of the internet to allow individuals to take the search for missing loved ones into their own hands.

It is intended for use by ANY and ALL refugees, regardless of legal status, country or origin, or reason for displacement. Every person who has been touched by conflict, disaster or other uprooting factors can utilise the service. You can also search and register if you live "under the radar" as an unregistered citizen, IDP or migrant worker. Refunite.org is for every refugee looking for lost loved ones.

Refugees United cannot help with physical reunification. For this, contact your local Red Cross/Crescent Society, the ICRC or the local authorities.

Privacy

What makes the Refugees United project so different from other family-tracing agencies is that it puts the power to find their families in the hands of the refugees themselves and provides them with the tools to do this. They strongly believe that you, the user of the site, is the best judge of what information is appropriate to register with. This means that many individuals who may have been previously ‘unfindable’ due to their need to remain ‘under the radar’ can register without fear of being found and tracked down by people they would rather not be found by. It is possible to register anonymously, without giving out a full name, address or any other potentially sensitive information. For example, it is possible to register with information such as initials, village of origin, date of birth, or other markers only identifiable to family and close friends. Another option is to register using only a picture of yourself and a village. The information is not recorded anywhere, IP addresses will never be logged and therefore no true, physical location can be revealed. Communication between site users is managed in a secure closed-circuit message system, which allows people to share further information through messages only visible to the two parties. However, please keep the following in mind: Refugees United is an open platform. Information submitted into your public profile can be viewed by anyone. While you are encouraged to register with information that is only recognizable by your closest family, there are situations when even that may put you at risk. Be careful.