The Facebook overlord and founder Mark Zuckerberg has told the United Nations Private Forum in New York that Facebook plans to bring the website to refugee camps with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Connecting the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our generation,” Zuckerberg said. “More than four billion people don’t have a voice online.
“The Internet is more than just a network of machines,” said Zuckerberg in his address to the UN. “It is the key driver of social and economic progress in our time. A like or a post won’t stop a tank or a bullet, but when people are connected, we have the chance to build a common global community with a shared understanding.”
Zuckerberg said Facebook connectivity would “help give refugees better access support from the aid community and maintain their links to families.
“By connecting more people in developing countries, we have an opportunity to create more than 140 million new jobs, lift 160 million people out of poverty, and give more than 600 million children access to affordable learning tools.”
Facebook would be a part of a campaign to make the internet available to everyone in the world within five years. Zuckerberg didn’t mention where, when and how Facebook would work with refugee camps.
