by Bill Roberts

Anyone who pulled out a cell phone during the recent Kosovo crisis risked being mobbed by anxious crowds desperate to get in touch with family and friends. Beyond the food, water, medicine and shelter provided by relief agencies, survivors of natural disasters and refugees from conflicts the world over have a basic need–to let loved ones know they are alive.

The troubles in Kosovo, the massive earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan, and the recent floods in France have brought to light the desperate need for communications between displaced persons in affected areas and their families on the outside. In the past, refugee and other aid organizations have sometimes taken months, even years, to reunite families.

To address this urgent need, a tiny French charity, Télécoms Sans Frontieres (Telecom Without Borders) was founded in July 1998 by 42-year-old Jean-Francois Cazenave, an employee of France Telecom. Since April 5, 1999, Telecom Without Borders (TWB) has used new telecommunications technology to put refugees from the Kosovo conflict in touch with friends and relatives around the world. Five volunteers equipped with just one satellite telephone each ran the service, used by Kosovar refugees in Macedonia’s Stankovic camp.

Each refugee had up to a minute and a half to call a family member outside the country. If the relative called back any of the organization’s five numbers, they were allowed to talk for up to ten minutes. Refugees were asked to pass on phone numbers for relatives of others in the camp, thus reducing the number of costly outgoing calls. Getting free phone time was a constant problem.

An essential satellite fax service was established. Deutsche Welle asked TWB to fax them messages from refugees for a daily radio program broadcast, in Albanian, throughout Germany, where nearly 80 percent of the refugees had relatives. Family members on the outside faxed replacement identification papers and letters of reference to refugees, enabling their eventual passage to Germany, France, Canada and other countries. In a parallel gesture, Radio France International broadcast a daily report to refugees with messages from families abroad, on one of TWB’s satellite phone units equipped with a loudspeaker.

By June 20, 1999, TWB had processed more than 60,000 calls. Says Michael Ignatieff, reporter for The New Yorker: “I saw Cazenave and his team in action at Stankovic and they were terrific. Helping people is about more than providing food and water. They also need to communicate with family members to say they’re alive. There’s an overwhelming need for the telecommunications community to understand how important access to satellite phones is in a national emergency.” Says Cazenave, “We’re small, but we’re flexible. We can be at any disaster zone in just 24-hours to help people call their families to tell them they’re alive and safe.”

TWB is completely non-partisan. According to Cazenave, TWB also provided satellite phone service to the displaced Serbian population in Kosovo. “We provide service wherever we see a need,” he says. At the same time as TWB was helping out in Kosovo, the organization provided satellite phone service from Istanbul, Turkey, during the earthquake disaster in August 1999. Then, in November 1999, TWB was in the southwest of France, providing similar service to families who had lost their homes to flooding.

Cazenave’s humanitarian service got off to a difficult start. In its first days in Macedonia’s Stankovic camp, TWB had only one satellite phone. Organizers racked up hefty bills for usage–about $3 per minute per outgoing satellite call–which meant a limit of one call of one minute per family. Cazenave finally convinced various phone companies to provide some free service.

He was also helped by a public appeal on French TV. The operator of global mobile satellite communications systems Inmarsat, and Station 12 (Netherlands), donated two phones and provided free service for three weeks in April 1999. Prompted by the operation’s success, France Telecom donated two satellite phones and battery chargers. (Inmarsat had previously given humanitarian assistance during Hurricane Mitch in November 1998.)

Getting free satellite telephone time beyond three weeks, or in parts of the world not regularly covered by the Western press, is an even greater problem. The aid of satellite service providers around the world is desperately needed in conflict zones like Angola, Sierra Leone, Eritrea and Ethiopia where over 7 million refugees have lost contact with their families. Satellite service providers and telecommunications companies can start by offering as much free air time and phone equipment as possible to TWB.

At the time of writing, the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is helping to put interested members of the Inter-Union Satellite Group (ISOG)–a group of broadcasters made up of representatives of the eight World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) who work with satellite operators for the transmission of television, voice and data world- wide–in touch with Cazenave. NABA is the official Secretariat of the WBU.

For more information, contact Jean-Francois Cazenave at +33/5-59-84-43-60, or by email: [email protected], or call Dick Tauber, vice- president of satellites and circuits at CNN: 404/827-1543 or [email protected].

Bill Roberts is the secretary-general for the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA).