<p>Created by: AnonymousUser.</p>
<p>User 'mara' did: promote at Sun Jun 21 23:50:41 +0000 2009.<br /> User 'mara' did: report at Mon Jun 22 09:32:51 +0000 2009.</p>
User 'anonymous' did: report at Fri Aug 21 18:18:12 +0000 2009.<br/>truetrue
<p>(London Events covered:)</p>
<p>14th June – celebrating sanctuary festival and photo exhibition on the South Bank.</p>
<p>16th June – football tournament: refugee team vs team featuring UK Members of Parliament, vs Guardian Newspaper staff vs Sky Sports staff.</p>
<p>18th June – cricket match: Refugee VI versus Free Foresters cricket team, London.</p>
<p>19th June – preparations for World Refugee Day.</p>
<p>20th June – World Refugee Day – demonstration in London. Theme: ‘Still human, still here’.</p>
<p>‘Refugee week’ is an international event initiated by UNHCR (United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees), which marked its eighth anniversary this year. The aim of this event is to raise awareness of the horrendous plight of refugees, as well as people displaced ‘internally’ inside their own country, around the world.</p>
<p>Growing in importance gradually, this year’s programme of events in London were supported strongly by the ‘Refugee Council’ and Amnesty International, among other organisations. Both of these rightly used their involvement to underline the depressing failure of successive UK governments to employ successful strategies to handle exhausted incoming refugees from countries around the world. It should not be forgotten that several of the countries concerned, (such as Afghanistan and Iraq) have had their populations devastated by ongoing conflicts involving British troops. To inflict violence on a population, and then treat the refugees that flee with policies that humiliate them- possibly as a deterrent for more to follow in their wake- is utterly shameful. This represents a failure by the UK government to protect the human rights of innocent people in need on UK soil, and must be urgently addressed.</p>
<p>Each event was well attended, and although the message was a sombre one, each was carried out in such positive spirit it was impossible not to get swept up in it all and end the week on a high, with the demonstration through London on ‘World Refugee Day’ – Saturday 20th June. The speeches and poems at the end of this demo, particularly by members of various refugee communities in London, were powerful and heartfelt... and brought home how harsh the realities are of life as a refugee or asylum seeker -even in a comparatively ‘well-off’ country like the UK.</p>
<p>Long may the tradition of Refugee Week continue. It should not be ignored as long as the number of displaced people around the world continues to rise.</p>
<p>For more info:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk" title="Refugee Week">www.refugeeweek.org.uk</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/" title="Refugee Council">www.refugeecouncil.org.uk</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amnesty.org.uk/" title="Amnesty International">www.amnesty.org.uk</a></p>
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billy.macrae.online@gmail.com2009-06-21T23:41:51+00:001667promotedBilly Macraefalse<p>14th - 21st June 2009 represents the ninth international Refugee Week - the run up to World Refugee Day, held on June 20th each year.</p>
<p>This year's Refugee Week featured a number of events, from the 'Celebrating sanctuary' festival on the South Bank, and various sporting events featuring refugee teams, to the 'Still Human, still here' demonstration on World Refugee day itself.</p>Refugee Week - London events2009-08-21T18:18:12+00:00