World Refugee Day: 20 June

This coming Thursday (20 June) is World Refugee Day and it’s interesting to see the UNHCR turning to Pinterest to promote the day:

Imagine your family had 1 minute to flee your home. What 1 thing would you take with you? Inspired by the photographer Brian Sokol’s original project ‘The Most Important Thing’, we asked refugee families, celebrities and members of the public to contemplate this heart-wrenching decision.

There’s a sutble touch of celebritiessuch as David Tennant, and even with those the campaign emphasises the human, individual side – a very important message given the way refugees and immigration often get conflated in wider public debate.

When that happens, it always risks letting widespread warmth to the idea of helping people who have to flee violence and hardship get undermined by debates over the job markets and the like. (Although, in fact, the evidence repeatedly shows that immigration boosts the British economy, so if there is going to be any merging of the issues in public debate it should be that being generous in granting asylum is likely to be good for the economy too.)

Regular readers will, I’m sure, be pleased to note that the UNHCR is also using Thunderclap to promote World Refugee Day…

Note: This is a sponsored post via Ebuzzing.