https://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/news/220317ukraine_unhcr.html

Sophia University and Sophia Alumni Association (Sophia-kai), with Japan for UNHCR will launch an emergency fundraising campaign for Ukraine refugees whose lives are threatened by violent conflict. Please find below messages from Yoshiaki Terumichi, President of Sophia University and Masao Torii, President of Sophia-kai in starting this fund raising campaign.

Masayuki Kawai, Executive Director of the Japan for UNHCR has commented, “The humanitarian crises that are occurring today in Ukraine and around the world are not someone else’s problem, but are human issues that need to be solved through working together across the globe. In this tragedy, many people, including children have been hurt and families have separated.

It many ‘helping hands,’ which the UNHCR logo represent come together to help people suffering in this situation, it will surely be a big step towards supporting as many people as we can an realizing a society where no one is left behind. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the warm feelings and action to protect human rights of those of Sophia University and Sophia-kai.”

The donations received will be sent to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) through the Japan Association for Refugees. Amounts sent to UNHCR will be announced on the Sophia University official website and other media.

We await your kind support.
Donate here
(jump to the Japan for UNHCR website in Japanese)

　Donations can be made by credit card and other methodsDonate points here
(jump to the Yahoo Japan Donation website)

　T-points can be donated from 1 point

Yoshiaki Terumichi, President of Sophia University

For Others, With Others
For whom? With whom? Now is the time to make a small action!

Sophia University, with a love for peace and respect for human dignity, walks with people of all nationalities and social status. Firmly opposed to violent war, it will launch an emergency fundraising campaign with the hope that peaceful and healthy life will return people the people of Ukraine soon.

Is human society headed in the right direction? We have never been able to be sure. We have sometimes found that what we had thought to be development was actually not, or realized that what we had believed was an accomplishment was still incomplete. Yet, by repeating this process, we have believed with great hope that global society as a whole was moving toward a fair society – a society where no one is left behind. Underlying these expectations is an essential and universal common understanding that human dignity should be fundamentally and most importantly respected in human society.

Today, we are witnessing in Ukraine, a reality where human dignity is relentlessly undermined. It is not a page in our history books or a scene in a movie or animated film. We are living these times on Earth. We are neighbors to invasion, occupation, war, victimization – a nightmare that we hoped never to see again.

For Others, With Others
The educational philosophy pursued by Sophia University speaks to the fundamentals of human society. I would like to invite members of the Sophian family to immediately lend your helping hands. Let us show the people of Ukraine, who have been deprived of their daily lives with their families, opportunities to work toward their goals, opportunities to learn, and opportunities to laugh, that we are here for them. Let us support them until they can live in security.

Our support may not be enough to immediately change the current situation. It may only be one of many measures. However, let us initiate action and realize our philosophy. Let us first reach out to the pain felt by the people of Ukraine.

Thank you for your cooperation, understanding and support.

Masao Torii, President of Sophia Alumni Association (Sophia-kai)

I am simply in shock that such tyranny of exposing innocent people leading peaceful lives to fear and depriving precious lives could take place in the 21st century. It grieves to me to see people leaving their families and risking their lives to desperately protect their countries.

There is no excuse for such outrageous actions that undermines international order. However, we have no outlets for the anger or helplessness we feel not having the power to stop these barbaric actions. What we can do now is to offer support for the suffering people of Ukraine. In full support of the action made by Sophia University, I would like to invite alumni, current students, parents, guarantors, faculty and staff to engage in this all-Sophia effort.

I would also like to extend my heartfelt prayers that peace will return to the daily lives of the Ukraine people soon.