Tag: refugees

The Oxford Sanctuary Fair was hosted for the first time on Thursday 11th May in the Oxford Town Hall.  It was organised by a collective...

The University of Oxford has received an award from the Universities of Sanctuary for its continued commitment to helping those who have been forcibly...

Mike Adamson is Chief Executive Officer at the British Red Cross. He will step down later this year having served for over eight years...

Researchers in Oxford have been able to map the population displacement in Ukraine using social media activity.

Oxford City Council is adapting its response to housing those in need. Whilst the annual closure of the city’s emergency winter shelter is expected...

Jack Twyman interviews Florin Misiuc, a member of the Romanian diaspora, on the effects of the conflict in Ukraine as felt in Romania.

Social enterprise The Bike Project is on a mission to get refugees cycling across the UK. It is doing so by collecting unwanted and abandoned bikes, fixing them up in their workshop, and donating them to refugees and asylum-seekers who do not have the means or money to travel.  

After travelling more than 5,000 miles and making stops in villages, towns, and cities across Europe, Little Amal was first greeted by a jovial crowd outside Oxford Botanic Garden before she ventured inside to meet a giant puppet of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, provided by the Story Museum, Lead Producer of Amal’s journey in Oxford. 

Amal has been welcomed by refugee children with handmade lanterns in Turkey and met the Pope at the Vatican, ​​but points along her journey have also mirrored the hostility and fear frequently thrust upon refugees.

The shockwaves from the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban takeover since 15th August have been keenly felt across the University of Oxford. They have hit Oxford Afghan students, led to safety concerns for academics in Afghanistan from Oxford Colleges, and resulted in discussions about how the University and members of its community can help. 

“Now, our sisters, mothers, daughters, and aunts are under lockdown for the rest of our lives,” said Shaista Aziz, Labour City Councillor for Rose Hill and Iffley and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, sharing in the meeting what an Afghan woman from Oxford had said to her. 

Featuring more than 150 postcards with orange hearts comprising of words of kindness, solidarity, and welcome, the exhibition was launched on 28th July in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Refugee Convention of 1951.

“The only solution to assuage the refugee crisis and bestow hope and justice to Syrians is a long-term political peace settlement in Syria, where people are once more able to regain the ability to live.”

"In an alternative universe it quite easily could have been you or I fleeing war and turmoil."