Welcome to Iceland– Looking refugees in the eyes

Twenty years ago, psychologist Arthur Aron discovered that four minutes of uninterrupted eye contact increases intimacy and brings people closer together. Using this discovery, Amnesty International Iceland decided to carry out a simple project where refugees living in Iceland, from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Somalia sat opposite native Icelanders and looked into each other's eyes for minutes. The results were overwhelmingly positive as the video that Amnesty International, Icelandic section produced to record these encounters, clearly demonstrates.
The Icelandic film and TV production company Pegasus produced the film.

The film shows natural, spontaneous reactions between people meeting for the first time in a crude, unfinished building in Reykjavík, stripped of all cultural signs.

Today, when the world appears rife with division and conflict, it is always worthwhile to look at everything from another person’s perspective. Too often, what gets lost in the numbers and headlines is the suffering of actual people, who, like us, have families, friends, their own stories, dreams and goals. What if we stopped for just a moment and looked at who they really are?

Borders exist between countries, not people. And it is imperative that our governments start putting people before borders and their own short-term political gain.