DEMOCRACY FESTIVALS – 2023

BŪTENT! FESTIVAL 

BIRŠTONAS, LITHUANIA, 26 AUGUST 

How do refugees integrate in Lithuania? And what has Lithuania learned from welcoming Ukrainian refugees?

At the annual BŪTENT! Festival, UNHCR this year participated in a discussion about the inclusion of refugees in Lithuanian society. UNHCR was in the panel together with Lithuanian Red Cross and two integration experts personally affected by Lithuanian integration policies, Dmytro Mamaiev, PhD student from Ukraine at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Research, and Bella Fox, Migration Policy Expert from Belarus.

ARENDALSUKA

ARENDAL, NORWAY, 14 – 18 AUGUST 

Together with other UN organizations, UNHCR joined a discussion on how to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). UNHCR advocated for inclusion of forcibly displaced people in the work with all the SDGs, with some special attention to goal number 16 regarding Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

UNHCR was also following a large number of other events, some of them concerning the Ukraine situation and Norway’s response to it, others focusing on forced displacement globally. The festival also gave UNHCR an opportunity to meet with a large variety of NGOs and both national and local authorities.

ARVAMUS FESTIVAL

PAIDE, ESTONIA, 11 – 12 AUGUST 

On 11 August, UNHCR participated in the Arvamus Festival, an annual event held in Paide, Estonia, aimed at enriching the culture of debate within the country. This year, UNHCR hosted a discussion, “Refugees in Estonia Before and After the Full-Scale War in Ukraine: What Has Changed”, facilitating a much-needed dialogue between the local community and newcomers. 

The discussion featured two panelists: Tahsin, an engineer from Türkiye, and Behnam, a film director from Iran. Both Tahsin and Behnam, who now enjoy peace and freedom in Estonia, have chosen the country as their home for the past few years and have actively become part of Estonian society. During the panel, they talked about moving to Estonia, learning the language, making friends, appreciating various things about Estonian culture and society, their plans and aspirations for the future, and how their situation was impacted by the arrival of refugees from Ukraine. Their ability to communicate in Estonian allowed them to connect with the audience, leaving a lasting impact.  

ALMEDALEN

GOTLAND, SWEDEN, 27 JUNE – 1 JULY

UNHCR this year participated at Almedalen, the political festival in Sweden, with a tent and several events. UNHCR was selected to participate in the event, “All Voices Shall Be Heard”, held at the heart of Almedalen. The audience got an opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from Olga, a Ukrainian refugee, and Sayed, a refugee from Afghanistan, both participants in UNHCR’s Refugee Speakers Programme. Their stories captivated the audience and shed light on the resilience and determination of refugees worldwide. 

UNHCR also organized events about the global refugee situation, highlighting the unprecedented number of forcibly displaced individuals around the world; about the role of interpersonal interactions between refugees and established Swedes, where a community official, alongside a refugee, and UNHCR’s expert discussed how community-based sponsorship programmes can foster a sense of belonging and social cohesion and hereby bring added value to reception and integration efforts. 

The last event in the UNHCR tent was a discussion on the implications of the recent changes in the Swedish asylum legislation, aimed at aligning it with European legal standards. The panelists focused on the practical implications of the adjustments for asylum seekers and refugees. UNHCR also joined discussions, organized by others, discussing both the right to family reunification as well as refugees and migrants as an answer to the labor shortages which the Nordic countries are facing. 

SUOMIAREENA 

PORI, FINLAND, 27 – 30 JUNE 

UNHCR’s Representative to the Nordic and Baltic Countries, Annika Sandlund, participated in an event, “Can a place of work or study save a refugee”, on 29 June, organized by the Finnish Refugee Council.  

Alongside representatives from the Finnish Confederation of Businesses, the Ministry of Labor and the Finnish Student Union, UNHCR discussed on how Finland could ethically recruit refugees for sectors with labor shortages and how complementary pathways, such as work and study visas, would allow more refugees to move safely across borders and reduce the desperate and dangerous journeys.  

The discussion can be seen here (in Finnish).

FOLKEMØDET 

BORNHOLM, DENMARK, 15 – 17 JUNE 

Kickstarting the programme in the new, sustainable UN Pavillon at Folkemødet, UNHCR gave the stage to three storytellers with refugee experience, Inas, Salah and Rolin, from DFUNK Danish Refugee Council Youth. In front of a packed audience, they shared their strong and moving stories of packing bags within minutes, fleeing home, dangerous journeys and arriving in Denmark and dealing with temporary protection.  

Together with DRC Danish Refugee Council, UNHCR co-organized two events on asylum and migration approaches in Denmark, debating with both experts, parliamentarians and the audience. One focused on which elements in the Danish Alien’s Act have become “crazy”, and where changes are needed, prompting discussions on temporary and short-term residence permits, resettlement, family reunification and access to labour market. The other focused on third country agreements and externalization of refugee protection.  

Lastly, UNHCR participated alongside the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and other UN agencies in an event zooming in on food insecurity, climate change and forced displacement.  

LAMPA FESTIVAL

CESIS, LATVIA, 9 – 10 JUNE 

For the first time, the two-day LAMPA Opinion Festival this year included an area dedicated to refugee-related topics – from the Belarus border situation and the tension between security and human rights to conversations with refugees and a spread of Middle Eastern cooking. 

UNHCR provided support to NGOs and organized talks and activities. 

UNHCR invited visitors to the session “More than 100 million: the global situation of people forced to flee” which introduced the global refugee situation and placed specific focus on Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee camp. UNHCR staff member Takashi Mori was invited to share his experience of working in Bangladesh. 

Another discussion led by UNHCR was “Lived experience: Being a refugee in Latvia – from two perspectives” where Faruk from Türkiye and Tetiana from Ukraine participated and shared their stories of arriving and settling down in Latvia. Faruk and Tetiana both shared their experiences of being involved in civil society initiatives in Latvia to address the challenges faced by refugees. 

During the festival, UNHCR also provided an interactive opportunity to visit Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan through the film “Clouds over Sidra” shown with virtual reality goggles.