Overview
- The Gere Foundation and Berlin’s Hertie School formally announced the Joint Initiative on Migration Thursday in Berlin, presenting plans to support research, scholarships and fundraising focused initially on Africa‑to‑Europe displacement.
- At the event Richard Gere said he is “deeply ashamed” of how the U.S. treats migrants and used the platform to sharply criticize President Trump’s rhetoric and policy approaches toward refugees and migrants.
- The initiative frames migration as a moral and structural problem driven by conflict, climate change, governance failures and colonial legacies and aims to shift policy from hostility toward opportunity by producing new perspectives and strategies.
- Germany’s development minister Reem Alabali Radovan publicly endorsed the project and warned that public debate has grown more hostile, while organizers acknowledge philanthropy cannot replace state action and detailed funding or policy outcomes have not been disclosed.
- Gere draws on decades of humanitarian work and direct encounters with migrants — including time aboard the rescue ship Open Arms and visits to Dachau — to argue the initiative should focus on root causes and change how societies talk about migrants.