“If you really want to stay, you will do whatever it takes.”

Stockholm, 17 May 2023: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has released the report “If you really want to stay, you will do whatever it takes”: Dialogue with Refugees from Ukraine in the Nordic Countries that gathers first-hand experiences and testimonies from Ukrainian refugees in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. 

The report is based on group discussions between refugees from Ukraine and UNHCR’s partners DRC Danish Refugee Council, Finnish Refugee Council and Svenska med Baby. It sheds light on refugees’ needs, priorities, concerns and challenges, while also uncovering similarities and differences between their experiences across the three countries, including with issues such as housing, labor market, and access to health care and financial assistance.

In general, the majority of the participating refugees were grateful and shared positive feedback on the help and assistance provided by both state authorities and civil society.

“The positive feedback reaffirms the strong response from both States and other actors as well as the enormous solidarity and generous welcoming of refugees from Ukraine that we have seen across the region,” says Yolande Ditewig, acting Representative for UNHCR in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

“At the same time, the honest and constructive feedback from the participating refugees also calls for reflection in some areas. I hope that the report will be seen as an important input to the continuous decision-making on reception and inclusion of refugees.”

The full report, “If you really want to stay, you will do whatever it takes”: Dialogue with Refugees from Ukraine in the Nordic Countries, can be accessed here.