OVER 1.1 MILLION SIGNATURES
IN SOLIDARITY
On September 6th we launched the Hope Away From Home campaign, calling on world leaders to honor their legal and moral obligations to people seeking safety from war, violence, and persecution.
You, along with over 1.1 million other people, joined our solidarity movement, showing that compassion and kindness are greater than fear and discrimination.
110 million
people are forcibly displaced around the world.
live in low or middle income countries.
34.6 million
people were forced to flee their homes and cross international borders by end of 2022. Most, over 70% are hosted in neighbouring countries.
The need for solidarity with people seeking safety has never been greater
Today, a record number of people have been forced to flee their homes due to war, violence and persecution. The total number of refugees worldwide rose to reach over 36.4 million in mid 2023.
We are witnessing rising hostility and xenophobia. The politicization of refugees and asylum seekers in many parts of the world is leading to more negative sentiment and harmful consequences for refugees and asylum seekers.
Together we must challenge this narrative and promote a more compassionate world towards refugees and people seeking safety from war, violence and persecution.
We cannot do it alone. Your solidarity and support can make a difference.
© UNHCR/Mercury Transformations
Showcasing your solidarity at the Global Refugee Forum.
In September 2023, we asked you to stand in solidarity with people forced to flee and take action to help safeguard their rights. Over 1.1m people of you signed our petition calling on world leaders to act, together, to protect the rights of refugees everywhere.
In December we took your message of solidarity and action to the heart of the Global Refugee Forum where decision-makers and leaders from around the world gathered in a unique effort to solve some of the most urgent challenges facing those forced to flee.
Read the full petition
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum, without discrimination. This means that no matter who you are or where you are from, you have a right to seek and enjoy safety from war, violence and persecution. To find sanctuary and hope away from home.
However, not everyone seeking safety around the globe is currently able to find it. Far from being able to find the shelter so desperately needed, many men, women and children today face dangerous, life-threatening journeys and unacceptable harm. They find themselves pushed back towards danger, unwelcomed, vulnerable and left in limbo for years without hope or help.
We are witnessing increased hostility, unfair treatment and injustice that is putting the lives of many at risk and threatening the right to seek safety for too many people around the world.
We cannot stand by and watch this happen.
As the world’s leading organization protecting the rights of those forced to flee, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is calling for urgent action now to help ensure that people fleeing war, violence and persecution can access safe territory, can be swiftly granted refugee status where needed, can live with dignity and can enjoy their rights like healthcare, education and jobs – together with the communities hosting them.
We call on world leaders to honor their legal and moral obligations to help ensure people seeking asylum from war, violence or persecution, can do so without discrimination. We call on world leaders to act together. We call on world leaders to share responsibility so that countries hosting the vast majority of the world’s refugees are supported in fulfilling their longstanding commitments to protect, include and help refugees. These are largely countries with low and middle incomes that despite facing economic challenges of their own, have been honoring the right to seek asylum for decades, keeping their borders open to those who have been forced to flee. They need increased support and solidarity.
UNHCR’s Hope Away from Home Campaign is calling for world leaders to act together and with solidarity to prioritize:
- Access to safe territory and preventing people from facing violence or dying along the routes.
- Adequate conditions and treatment for refugees in line with human rights, dignity and inclusion.
- Accession to the Refugee Convention, lifting reservations and establishing efficient asylum procedures.
- Increased access to durable solutions, including resettlement.
- Solidarity and support to countries and communities hosting large refugee populations.
Join our movement of solidarity to give hope to all those seeking safety across the world and UNHCR will deliver your urgent message to world leaders and decision makers at the Global Refugee Forum in December, a key moment where the international community will come together to pledge support for refugees and the countries and communities that host them.
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, tours the Palexpo International Exhibition and Convention Centre during the Global Refugee Forum 2023. © UNHCR/Anne-Laure Lechat
The Solidarity Cloak
The ‘Solidarity Cloak’ is a symbolic representation of global solidarity. It was showcased throughout the Global Refugee Forum. Symbolizing the solidarity felt by hundreds of thousands of people across the world, it was made by a French based non-profit organization called Espero Atelier – an organization that builds pathways to jobs for refugees. The designers and creators behind the cloak are refugees originally from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Ukraine. They found a new home in France and a new hope through working at this fashion house.
This unique cloak was made from a mix of upcycled fabrics, symbolizing the second chances and new opportunities that people seeking safety need. The patchwork of different fabrics and colours represent the rich diversity in the world, whilst the threads that connect them together represent the connections between us and our ability to come together as a unified world to give hope to people forced to flee and to support the communities that host them.
The Global Wall of Solidarity
The Global Wall of Solidarity brought the words the Hope Away from Home petition to the heart of the Global Refugee Forum. Delegates from all over the globe could read the petition calling for urgent action to protect the rights of people fleeing war, violence and persecution. Participants were encouraged to visit the space, read the petition and had the opportunity to sign.
UNHCR Hight commissioner visits the Hope Away From Home solidarity wall at the Global Refugee Forum. The wall featured the campaign film and an interactive screen where people had the opportunity to add their names to the global solidarity petition. © UNHCR/Anne-Laure Lechat
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, tours the Palexpo International Exhibition and Convention Centre during the Global Refugee Forum 2023. © UNHCR/Anne-Laure Lechat
The case for Solidarity with refugees
A seemingly ‘out of place’ selection of suitcases was placed in the GRF Exhibition Space as an installation that drew attention from attendees and delegates to find out what they were and why they were there. There were 36 cases representing over 36.4million people around the world today who have been forced to flee their homes and countries around the world. More than 36 million people have had to make journeys to find safety. 36 million people looking for hope away from home.
No one should have to pay with their lives or freedom to reach safety.
This film is a dramatization of the journey of a refugee. The cast are actors.
Becoming a refugee is not a choice. But how we act towards them, is.
Do you look the other way when you see discrimination, injustice and violations of human rights?
Or do you take action?
Let’s keep raising awareness about the issue, let’s keep the conversation going.
UNHCR’s five key asks of States
The Hope Away from Home campaign establishes five key asks of States with support from UNHCR and partners, to amend policies and introduce new practices so that all people fleeing war, violence and persecution can find and live in safety, without discrimination.
1
Access to safe territory and preventing people from facing violence or dying along the routes.
2
Adequate conditions and treatment for refugees in line with human rights, dignity and inclusion.
3
Accession to the Refugee Convention, lifting reservations and establishing efficient asylum procedures.
4
Increased access to durable solutions, including resettlement.
5
Solidarity and support to countries and communities hosting large refugee populations.
UNHCR works with partners, civil society, corporate partners and field operations to advance policy change to bring a real and lasting change in how the world responds to the growing refugee crisis.
Check back here as we advance this initiative in regions and countries around the world.