Stark and graphic depictions of human suffering are amongst the shocking images used by the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, in an island-wide exhibition of photographs entitled Real People, Real Needs.

The award-winning World Press Photo (WPP) images are part of a travelling exhibit that aims to raise funds and promote awareness and understanding of the plight of the world’s refugees and the difficulties they face in attaining social acceptance and freedom from intimidation in the countries where they seek sanctuary.

A powerful visualisation of past and present atrocities, including starvation, genocide and mutilation in countries such as Chechnya, Rwanda, Afghanistan and the Sudan, ends with photographs of the Cypriot displacement camps of the seventies as a poignant reminder of the need for compassion for those affected by war and conflict.

Currently displayed along Limassol’s popular seafront promenade, the photographic display will be moved to Paphos and Larnaca before its close at the end of the summer.