A campaign will launch in the UK to highlight contributions refugees have made to society and to challenge negative discussions around the influx of people seeking asylum in the country, using well known names such as Rita Ora who fled to the UK from Kosovo.
Organised by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the I am a Refugee initiative will be modelled on the blue plaques placed on buildings around the UK that commemorate their historical significance.
Each of the campaign’s plaques will feature a refugee who has moved to the UK and will be placed on buildings significant in their life, for example, where the refugee lived, worked or studied.
“We really felt that we could make a real difference in terms of how the public debate around asylum seekers and refugees is framed”
Refugees will also be able to create their own plaques digitally to share online.
The campaign is aiming to raise just over £21,000 from the public to cover production and third party costs, and has so far raised nearly a quarter of the target.
Saira Grant, chief executive at the JCWI, said the campaign is in response to the millions of people seeking asylum in Europe.
“We have got the largest movement of people since the Second World War,” she told The PIE News.
“The purpose of the campaign and what we’re hoping people will realise is when you give asylum to those who are desperate, that’s just not a good thing to do, there is actually a benefit to the host country.”
Grant said that universities and educational establishments can play a “vital role” in the debate.
“The fact that scholarships are given to refugees, which is just wonderful, that is helping empower people and build their capacity,” she said.
Last year, JCWI carried out a similar project in the run up to the country’s general election, highlighting the importance of immigrants to the UK.
The campaign saw posters of immigrants displayed across the London Underground and National Rail network in a bid to counteract an anti-immigration rhetoric in politics and the need to shed positive light on immigrants.
Grant said she felt that now the climate was right to launch a similar effort for refugees.
“Having run ‘I am an Immigrant’, and seen the success that that campaign received, we really felt that we could make a real difference in terms of how the public debate around asylum seekers and refugees is framed,” she said.
The campaign will launch on June 20, International Refugee Day and will also consist of a week-long art exhibition, where at least 50 of the plaques will be on display at London’s South Bank Centre.
