By the end of 2020, 82.4 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of
persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. This is an increase of 2.9 million people
over the previous year. The world’s population of forcibly displaced people remained at a record
high.
In 2020, there were 26.4 million refugees in the world—the highest ever seen and 35.5 million
children were living outside of their country of birth- Not their choice! Over the last few months,
people across Britain were poignantly reminded about the plight of these children by Little Amal, a
towering puppet of a child refugee fleeing her war ravaged country to seek sanctuary. She began
her 5,000-mile journey to Manchester from the Turkish-Syrian border back in July. Her name means
‘hope’ in Arabic – and she’s travelled across Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and
France.
On the 30th October, Migrant Action in solidarity with other organisations joined hundreds of people
including children in welcoming ‘little Amal’ to Barnsley. In an increasingly hostile migration policy
environment, the people including children who saw themselves in little Amal’s story, stretched out
their arms to welcome her echoing a towering and powerful message of welcome, compassion,
solidarity, humanity, social justice and hope.
Migrant Action’s work articulates a positive and hopeful migration discourse and advocates for the
UK being a more welcoming rather than a ‘hostile environment’ for refugees and other migrants.
