Refugee Week 2023

This year Refugee Week celebrates Compassion in all forms. This theme will be central to events around the country. Across the UK individuals, communities and organisations are showing solidarity with refugees every day. From June 19 to 25, we will be highlighting their efforts and saying thank you, as well as showing the difference that kindness and support can make in empowering displaced people to build their lives here.

‘In my work with the UN Refugee Agency around the world, I have seen for myself how communities come together to receive and support refugees fleeing war and persecution. I see the same compassion and generosity across the UK, in the actions of the communities, individuals and organisations who are working to make the lives of refugees that bit easier as they settle into life in a new country. The stories I hear - of kindness, of solidarity, and of friendship – are both moving and inspiring, and time and again I see how these actions enrich us all - as those who received a warm welcome go on to welcome others, and to give back to the society that helped them. Refugee Week is a chance to celebrate not just the incredible compassion of so many people, but the way in which kind actions encourage more kind actions.’

Vicky Tennant, UNHCR Representative to the UK