Happy Refugee Day

At the same time, this year marks the 60^th anniversary of the Refugee Convention. Normally, we can hardly escape all the negative reporting in the media, but Refugee Week was always a good time to do something different and focus on the positive stories that encourage a better understanding of why people come to Britain seeking protection.

For once it seems that even the Express picked up on the press release sent out on Friday by Refugee Week team and has taken a surprisingly positive approach, with the article having a lot of good things to say about refugees.

I seriously doubt that the editors at the Express will appreciate the irony of the fact that 99% of the work press officers in refugee organisations do consists of refuting what they usually report on, e.g No failed asylum seeker should be allowed to stay. But hey let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

Or perhaps this highlights the fact revealed by Refugee Council earlier this year through their clever use of opinion polling, which showed that 82% of Britons still defend Britain’s role as the protector of the most vulnerable. That when the push comes to shove most of us are willing to offer protection to those in need.

But for this week whatever you’re into - be it arts, music, food or just meeting people in your local area - Refugee Week will have an event for you. Go and visit the Events Calendar on the Refugee Week website and find out more.

If you are around in London on Tuesday and fancy a film come to the BFI for the “Son of Babylon”. MRN team will be there with some materials and you can always grab us for a chat.

And let us know what you’re up to this week by posting a comment below.