| Katarzyna Juszkiewicz |
World Refugee Day is an annual holiday celebrated in the world on 20 June. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000.
In the light of the Geneva Convention of 1951, a refugee is a person who flees from persecution in his country because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership of a specific social group, and the persecution is most often carried out by the authorities of that country. People fleeing the Russian aggression in Ukraine should therefore be precisely called war refugees.
The University of Silesia has been helping refugees from that country since the first days of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Since 24 February 2022, over 3 million people fleeing the conflict have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border. Among them are students of the University of Silesia in Katowice with their families –says Sylwia Ledwoch, MA, plenipotentiary of the Rector of the University of Silesia for aid for Ukraine. Help was immediate.
In addition to Ukrainian citizens, the university also helps international students who studied in this country and had to flee it. As part of the support, the university also organizes Polish language lessons. A special website „Solidarni z Ukrainą” (“In solidarity with Ukraine”) translated into Ukrainian was also launched, where you can find the most important information for people who need support as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Below you can listen to Katarzyna Juszkiewicz’s interview with Sylwia Ledwoch, MA on the occasion of the World Refugee Day.
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fot. Kevin Buckert | Unsplash