--- description: An image spread around the world, stirring sentiment on the migrant crisis and drawing promises of improvement. But did it change anything? title: Alan Kurdi: Heartbreaking Photo Remains Iconic 1 Year Later image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd5add2a6cdfe33d/6988738fa988cade2a6b58ac/top-100-photos-2015-alan-kurdi.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # That Heartbreaking Photo of Alan Kurdi Was Taken a Year Ago. It Still Matters by [Olivier Laurent](/author/olivier-laurent/) and [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) Sep 2, 2016 2:37 PM CUT  A paramilitary police officer investigates the scene before carrying the lifeless body of Alan Kurdi, 3, after a number of migrants died and others were reported missing when boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized near the Turkish resort of Bodrum on Sept. 2, 2015. A paramilitary police officer investigates the scene before carrying the lifeless body of Alan Kurdi, 3, after a number of migrants died and others were reported missing when boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized near the Turkish resort of Bodrum on Sept. 2, 2015.Nilufer Demir / DHA—AP by [Olivier Laurent](/author/olivier-laurent/) and [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) Sep 2, 2016 2:37 PM CUT A year has passed since Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian refugee, drowned on a Turkish beach. His family had fled war, looking for peaceful and better lives in the West. Their dreams were crushed when the boat carrying them from Turkey to Greece capsized in the early hours of Sept. 2, 2015. The gut-wrenching photograph of his lifeless body lying, face down, on a beach, stirred the world. After the image, taken by Nilüfer Demir, was shared on social media and across the front pages of hundreds of newspapers, public outcry contributed to Europe’s leaders promising more compassionate immigration policies. “We will fulfill our moral responsibilities,” [said](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/syrian-refugee-crisis-refugees-british-government-20000-4000-progress-how-many-migrants-immigration-a7219971.html "undefined") the U.K.’s then-Prime Minister David Cameron. A year later, many of those promises seem to have been forgotten. Barbed-wire fences have risen on Europe’s eastern borders and refugee camps grow larger as hundreds of thousands of migrants [continue](http://time.com/4472165/migrants-last-hope-a-rescue-on-the-mediterranean-sea/ "undefined") to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing. In the first eight months of this year, more than 3,000 of those people have [perished](http://www.iom.int/news/migrant-arrivals-mediterranean-reach-272070-deaths-sea-3165 "undefined") at sea — [considerably more](http://time.com/4475596/alan-kurdi-year-world-refugee-migrant-crisis/ "undefined") than in the same period in 2015. And so Demir’s photograph of the little boy with blue shorts and a red shirt will remain iconic, engraved in our collective memory. It will continue to tell the story of a family that fled the war engulfing their country, hoping to join relatives in the safety of Canada. And it will continue to be a symbol of all the children who lost their lives on that journey to freedom. In this video, produced by Paul Moakley, we take a look back at how the heartbreaking photograph of Alan Kurdi was made. _Follow_ **_TIME LightBox_** _on_ [_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/timelightbox "undefined")_,_ [_Twitter_](https://twitter.com/timepictures "undefined") _and_ [_Instagram_](https://instagram.com/timelightbox/ "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4477300/alan-kurdi-photo-one-year-later/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4477300/alan-kurdi-photo-one-year-later/"},"headline":"That Heartbreaking Photo of Alan Kurdi Was Taken a Year Ago. 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