Switzerland

War has forced millions of families to flee their homes

This is the most urgent story of our time

Congratulate the "Butterflies"
JOIN IN
Stay informed
Sign up to receive more information about UNHCRs work for refugees and how to help
“When I first heard about Russian tanks in Prague, I could not believe my ears. It was 1968 and we were on a vacation in Switzerland"  

Miroslav’s whole life turned upside down when he and his family couldn’t return to Prague as the Soviet invasion began.

PROMISED LAND

PROMISED LAND

  Length: 1:05 Views: 33

Judith Kerr’s Story, United Kingdom

German-born British writer Judith Kerr tells her own refugee story; she escaped from Hitler’s Germany when she was a child…

Alex Kühni, Photojournalist

Photojournalist Alex Kühni met two Syrian refugees in Lebanon and was impressed by their unwavering hope that they would find a better life someday.

 I was young and impressionable and her horror and sadness became etched into my memory.

I had just started working for Refugees International when I was sent out on mission to Bosnia. The war was raging and I was new to humanitarian work and stunned when I arrived by NATO helicopter into Sarajevo. A day later, the first reports were coming out of Srebrenica.

Ana meets Sister Angélique Namaika

Ana met Sister Angélique Namaika at the Nansen Refugee Award ceremony 2013 and she was touched by her strength and glowing smile…

AA Gill: Long day’s journey into night

‘As I watch, figures appear out of the darkness, bent double under sacks… moving past us like heavy ghosts”. AA Gill goes among the Syrian refugees in Jordan’s Zaatari Camp.

Linda Summanen, 30, volunteer in Finnish Refugee Council, social scientist

Most traumatic stories for me were of human smuggling: how people are forced to collect the money for smuggling from nothing and how they have to hide for long periods of time hiding in under underneath trucks travelling through Europe.

David Morrissey visits Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan

Actor and UNHCR High Profile Supporter David Morrissey travelled to Jordan to see UNHCR’s frontline work for Syrian refugees.

Suhur Afrah: From Somalia to Djibouti to the Netherlands - A family Reunited

… I was born in Somalia and lived with my mother, father and 4 siblings. When I was 2 years old, militants had taken over the military…

Adelin Petrisor, Photojournalist

Photojournalist Adelin Petrisor met Ibo, a Somali refugee girl, in Tunisia when she was only seven months old…

Abduol’s Story, Greece

Back in Afghanistan, where I was born, and later in Iran, where I was forced to flee because of the Taliban, there was no time nor wish for anything else than work, very hard work …

The story of my grandmother

As the Soviet forces were occupying Estonia at the end of the Second World War, my grandmother realized that there was no future for her and her family…

1 family torn apart by war is too many

Learn more about our work with refugees at UNHCR.org