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Refugee Week takes place on the 20th of June each year. It is regularly used as a platform for holding hundreds of arts, cultural and educational events.
Refugee Week events are often intended to celebrate the contribution of refugees to the United Kingdom, and encourage a better understanding between communities. [1]
Refugee Week always takes place in the week closest to World Refugee Day (20 June). The dates for 2009–2012 and for 2019 and 2023 are as follows:
In future years, Refugee Week will be celebrated as follows:
Events during Refugee Week are usually organised by different charities, local governments, homes, refugee community organisations, schools, faith groups, arts organisations, day centres and umbrella networks. [4]
A multi-agency organisation called the Refugee Week partnership leads on unifying the events.
Events organised during Refugee Week are held independently from the Refugee Week partnerships and are not obliged to follow the suggested direction of the partnership.
Events include the annual Umbrella Parade and the Celebrating Sanctuary Festival in London. 2011 will also see a "100% British created by refugees" campaign to celebrate the contribution of refugees to British society, as well as a Simple Acts campaign which encourages people do a least one simple action in order to make a big change to the way refugees are perceived in the UK.
The strategic direction of Refugee Week is organised by the Refugee Week partnership, which is a multi-agency project, with representatives from the partner agencies forming the UK Steering and Operation Groups. The partner agencies of the Refugee Week partnership currently include: Amnesty International UK, British Red Cross, the Children's Society, Freedom from Torture, the Home Office, Oxfam, Refugee Action, Refugee Council, Save the Children Fund UK, Scottish Refugee Council, Student Action for Refugees, UNHCR, and the Welsh Refugee Council.
The Refugee Week partnerships' slogan is Different Pasts, Shared Future.
The Refugee Week partnership encourages event organisers to organise events around the idea that Refugee Week is a space of encounters between different communities and an opportunity to use more creative ways to bring refugee experiences closer to wider audiences.
The week also features an online broadcast by Refugee Week Radio [5] with content produced by groups such as Refugee Radio and the British Red Cross.
On car-free days, people are encouraged to travel by means other than cars. Some cities, like Jakarta and Tehran, have weekly car-free days. Other such days are annual. World Car Free Day is celebrated on September 22. Organized events are held in some cities and countries.
The Scottish Refugee Council is a registered charity that provides advice and services to asylum seekers and refugees. The objective of the organisation is ‘building a better future with refugees in Scotland’.
International Men's Day (IMD) is a global awareness day for many issues that men face, including parental alienation, abuse, homelessness, suicide, and violence, celebrated annually on November 19. The objectives of celebrating an International Men's Day are set out in 'All the Six Pillars of International Men's Day'. It is also an occasion to celebrate boys' and men's lives, achievements and contributions, in particular for their contributions to nation, union, society, community, family, marriage, and childcare.
UNITED for Intercultural Action is a European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees, in which over 560 organisations from 48 European countries cooperate. UNITED was founded in 1992 and provides a forum for active solidarity and cooperation between a wide variety of organisations in Europe and their activists across European borders.
Loughborough Students' Union is the students' union serving members from Loughborough University, Loughborough College and the RNIB College Loughborough.
World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Christian Aid Week is an annual door-to-door fundraising drive by the charity Christian Aid. The drive is held each year in Britain during the second week of May, when thousands of volunteers post red collection envelopes to households around the country. Held each year since 1957 the event celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, making it Britain's longest running fundraising week.
The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) was established in 1982, as part of the University of Oxford's Department of International Development, in order to promote the understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migration and to improve the lives of some of the world's most marginalised people. Its philosophy is to "combine world-class academic research with a commitment to improving the lives and situations for some of the world's most disadvantaged people".
Burmese people in the United Kingdom are residents and citizens of the United Kingdom with Burmese ancestry or origins. This can include people born in the UK who are of Burmese descent, as well as those born in Myanmar who have migrated to Britain.
Macedonians in the United Kingdom refers to people from North Macedonia that have formed communities in or were born in the United Kingdom. The 2011 UK Census recorded a total of 2,983 residents who stated that their country of birth was Macedonia.
Cambridge SCA is a registered charity which encourages and provides community volunteering opportunities for the students of the University of Cambridge. Projects typically provide services to disadvantaged groups within the local community and provide students with valuable learning opportunities and a chance to make a difference. Cambridge SCA runs 10 of its own 'Internal Projects', each of which are headed by student Project Leaders - these projects include 'Big Siblings', 'Parklife', 'Betty Stubbens Musical Entertainment Group' and 'Teaching English as a Second Language'. They also offer volunteering opportunities with over 60 external organisations, such as Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Headway and the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre.
The International Military Sports Council (IMSC) or Conseil International du Sport Militaire (CISM), is an international sports association, established in 1948 and headquartered in Brussels. It is the world's second-largest multi-discipline sports organisation, after the International Olympic Committee, holding more than 20 competitions annually. Under its auspices, soldiers who may previously have met on the battlefield compete on the sports playing field. CISM organises various sporting events, including the Military World Games and World Military Championships, for the armed forces of 140 member countries. The aim of CISM is to promote sport activity and physical education between armed forces as a means to foster world peace. The motto of CISM is "Friendship through Sport" and is based on three pillars of sport, education and solidarity.
Citizens UK is a grassroots alliance of local communities working together in England and Wales.
Big Dance was a dance initiative in the United Kingdom, which happened every three years from 2006 to 2016. It was a nine-day biennial festival of dancing, mostly taking place in non-traditional dance spaces such as museums, shopping centers, parks, bridges, stations, galleries, and libraries, with the aim of inspiring people in different ways through dance. Initiated in 2006 by the first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, for the Greater London Authority, the programme was delivered in partnership with Arts Council England and delivered events and inspiration to be physically active through dance.
The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) was a membership network of over 200 voluntary and community organisations, as well as local and regional networks, that work with and for young people across England. The organisation closed in 2016. For 80 years, NCVYS acted as an independent voice of the voluntary and community youth sector, working to inform and influence public policy, supporting members to improve the quality of their work, and also raising the profile of the voluntary and community sector's work with young people.
City Sikhs is a nonprofit organisation, and a registered charity which describes itself as "A voice for progressive Sikhs". It promotes networking, education and volunteering amongst Sikh professionals and provides a platform for engagement with the British Sikh community.
The Jewish Council for Racial Equality or HIAS+JCORE is a Jewish organization that works to provide a Jewish voice on race and asylum issues in the UK.
The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) is the democratic representative body of all the Jewish communities of Scotland. The Council was founded in 1999 in response to Scottish devolution, with the principal aim of providing the Jewish community of Scotland with a single voice in dealings with the Scottish Parliament and Government, other communities, and other statutory and official bodies.
The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is a UK-based advocacy group established in 1996 in London. It is an “independent consultancy focusing on the historical, political and legal aspects of the Palestinian Refugees”. In July 2015, PRC was given special consultative status at the United Nations as Non-governmental organisation (NGO), in a controversial vote.
Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA) is a charitable incorporated organisation that supports London's refugee community and the Afghan diaspora in the United Kingdom. The organisation also campaigns for human rights, democracy and the fair treatment of refugees in Afghanistan and around the world. The charity has a dual mission of supporting the successful integration of refugees into Britain through grassroots service provision and of advocating for the promotion of human rights and fair treatment of refugees globally. The ACAA runs a variety of services, such as ESOL classes and a legal aid clinic, to help refugees integrate as well as hosting regular cultural events and international conferences to raise awareness of the plight of refugees. In 2018 the ACAA was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
