Refugee Week 2017
Amnesty Celebrate Over Three Days
KNGS Amnesty Youth Group chose to celebrate Refugee Week this year at KNGS with three days of activities. Refugees have made and continue to make huge contributions to our society but often suffer prejudice. Britain is home to less than 1% of the world’s refugees and they make up around 0.25% of Britain’s population. In fact, most refugees are hosted by some of the world’s poorer countries.
On Wednesday, 21st June, Shari Brown from the organisation Restore came to talk about what life is like for asylum seekers and refugees in Birmingham. She spoke about the needs of asylum seekers when they arrive in Birmingham and how people can offer help.
On Thurdsay, 22nd June, Trevor Trueman from the Amnesty International UK Asylum Justice Group came to talk about the world refugee crisis and about human rights issues for asylum seekers in the UK. He explained some of the many hardships and violence faced by refugees around the world. He also highlighted that the UK is the only European country which detains people indefinitely with some people detained for more than a year not knowing when they will be released. The centres are surrounded by barbed wire and look and feel like prisons. In summer the Amnesty Youth Group will be campaigning against these measures at the school fete.
We thank both of our speakers for their interesting talks.
On Friday 23rd June the Amnesty Youth Group ran a ‘Great Get Together’. This has been a national event to honour the memory of Jo Cox, MP for Batley and Spen who was murdered one year ago by a right-wing extremist. Jo Cox worked passionately for social cohesion and in her maiden speech at the House of Commons said: “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things which divide us.” Her husband Brendan Cox asked groups and communities all over the country to meet together and to talk together to mark the anniversary of her death. At KNGS we held one of the over 1,000 events over the whole country. The Amnesty Youth Group served drinks and sold cakes. There was a very special atmosphere as a café-styled room 23 buzzed with conversation – lots of students and staff came to enjoy a few relaxed minutes in a busy day.
A huge well done to the Amnesty Youth Group for organizing these events – the members worked so hard in preparation of these events and the cakes were delicious! Another huge thank you to all the students and staff who supported the events and helped to make them a great success. We look forward to seeing lots of people at the Amnesty stall at the summer fete.