World Refugee Day 2003 National Activity Plan: France

On June 20, UNHCR will organise an educational event, through which some 60 students aged 16 to 17 will study the roles of the Commission des Recours de Réfugiés (CRR) and UNHCR. In order to simulate appeal sessions, students will play the roles of the President of the Commission, assessors from UNHCR and l'Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides (OFPRA), lawyers and refugee-status applicants. The event will be inaugurated by the President of the CRR and the UNHCR Representative.

In their own high schools, the students will attend three preparatory sessions about the world's refugee situation, the journey of an asylum seeker in France and in Europe, and case studies.

An educational campaign by UNHCR and ECHO (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office) will be launched on June 20. The campaign will reach young Europeans to sensitise them to the situation of young refugees in Africa between late 2003 and early 2004.