June 20, 2022
World Refugee Day is marked around the world on the 20th June every year to celebrate refugees. Established by the United Nations in 2001 the day celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution, focusing the world's attention on individual stories with many events and activities supporting people who have already made the journey.
Focusing on the rights, needs and dreams of refugees, the day is used to build empathy and understanding for what refugees have been through and celebrate their resilience in rebuilding their lives. Responding to the significant rise of numbers of people fleeing their homes this year, the theme for 2022 is the right to seek safety. The United Nation's fundamental belief is that no matter who people are or where they come from, they should be guaranteed routes to safety.
2Simple are delighted to have worked in partnership with Safe Passage to create a collection of resources designed to support teachers welcoming new arrivals into the classroom. The resources are available to Purple Mash subscribers and can be accessed here. Founded in 2015 Safe Passage supports unaccompanied child refugees to access safe routes in Europe. For their continued hard work during the pandemic, they were awarded the 2021 charity award in the campaigning and advocacy charity.
The Refugee Week resources include a series of videos from the Safe Passage Young Leaders, a group of young people from refugee backgrounds who work together to campaign for refugee rights. They have worked together to create the content with the aim of helping people understand what it is like to be a refugee and how children and teachers can make schools a welcoming place. The Young Leaders also very recently won the 2022 Sheila McKechnie Foundation Award for ‘Amplifying Voices’ with their Safe Routes Save Lives campaign.
The Refugee Week resources are available within Purple Mash. Learn more about our all-in-one solution for primary schools and try it for free here.