A new campaign to celebrate the contribution of refugees to British society is being launched, with singer songwriter Rita Ora the first high-profile figure to back the idea.
The initiative will aim to put up a series of blue plaques on buildings – similar to ones used on historic sites – to mark the homes or workplaces of refugee "ambassadors" who have been given safety and built a new life in the UK.
One of the first to sign up as an ambassador is Ora, who moved to the UK with her family as a refugee when she was a baby after her family fled Kosovo to escape the war in Yugoslavia.
The project is being set up by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which previously ran a successful campaign to highlight the contribution immigrants are making to society.
Nearly 1,000 posters were displayed across the UK at train stations and on giant billboards showing bus drivers, mental health nurses and sports stars with the message “I am an immigrant”. One featured Lukas Belina, a firefighter from Dundee, who came to Scotland from Poland in 2007.
Saira Grant, chief executive of the JCWI, said: “With the current refugee crisis and what is happening globally and in Europe, we thought it was the right time to celebrate the contribution of refugees.
“Sadly we are seeing an emerging xenophobic narrative across Europe, including in the UK and it is all too easy for fears to cloud people’s judgement.
“The purpose of this campaign – in a similar way to the ‘I am an immigrant’ project – is to act as a reminder that people who have in the past and today been given sanctuary to are immense contributors to our society.
“Not only are they extremely grateful for being given safety and sanctuary in the first place, but they go on to do wonderful things in their host countries.”
The list of famous refugees who have made their home in Britain includes Michael Marks, who came to the UK as a Jewish refugee and founded Marks & Spencers.
Model Alek Wek fled to the UK to escape civil war in Sudan and the family of Chelsea football player Islam Feruz came to Scotland as refugees.
Grant said the aim of the campaign – which will be launched on June 20 to coincide with International Refugee Day – was to create blue plaques for around a dozen high-profile refugee ambassadors across the UK.
Refugees from across the UK doing everyday jobs such as doctors, musicians and teachers – will also be invited to create their own plaques, which will be displayed in an art exhibition.
There will also be a digital version of the blue plaques, to enable refugees to share their story online.
Grant said advertising firm Coley Porter Bell had agreed to donate time and expertise to the project free of charge, but an appeal for I am a Refugee had been launched on the JustGiving crowdfunding site to try to raise £30,000 for additional costs.
She said: “The campaign is to remind people that refugees immensely contribute to the UK. But it is not just to celebrate their contribution – through the website refugees can tell their stories and give information, so it will be an educational platform with facts and figures and information.
“People can look at it and make an informed decision and not be scaremongered into a point of view from stories they hear.
“For each refugee there will be a bit of their history - about who they are and how they have contributed. They all have an amazing story to tell.”
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