.png)
Raising Awareness
SolidariTee x Laugh4Change Comedy Fundraiser - Durham 2019
We invest in students so that they can invest in the future. SolidariTee seeks to inspire the next generation of policymakers and advocates in the refugee crisis, either through educational talks and workshops, or by keeping the conversation alive through events and fundraisers. You can read more about our awareness-raising activities below, or explore our infographics and mythbusters on 'Get The Facts'.
Events
SolidariTee is a well-loved name on campus. Since 2017, we've been setting up events all over the world to spread the word and fundraise for our cause. These include, to name a few: club nights across Europe; panel discussions in London; pub quizzes in Amman; pottery evenings in Madrid; theatre company collaborations at the Edinburgh Fringe; and comedy nights in Durham and Bristol in partnership with Laugh 4 Change. We’ve partnered with student balls and with university fashion shows, and are always open to new ideas!
Talks and Workshops
The refugee crisis teaches courage, cultural integration and empathy. In 2019, we ran 11 workshops (UK and Switzerland) for secondary-school students on the journey of a refugee, and ways in which young people can help. We've also set up talks and panel discussions for university students, with legal advocates straight from the field giving their insights on the crisis.
2015
January
Ezadeen incident sees 450 Syrian refugees abandoned in Mediterranean
June
European Council agree to relocate 40,000 refugees from Italy and Greece to other EU Member States and to take 20,000 refugees from outside the EU.
August 22nd
In one day only, 4,400 migrants are rescued off the coast of Libya
August 31st
Angela Merkel's 'Wir schaffen das' - there will be no limits on the number of asylum seekers taken in by Germany
September 13th
Germany introduces temporary controls on border with Austria.
September 22nd
120,000 refugees to be relocated in EU
April
Just under 1,250 asylum seekers die in the Mediterranean. After this, deaths in the Mediterranean continue steadily.
July
Hungary begins to build a barrier along its border with Serbia to stem flow of asylum seekers into the country.
August 27th
71 asylum seekers, including 4 children, are found dead in an abandoned lorry in Austria - they are believed to have died from suffocation
September 2nd
Death of Alan Kurdi
September 17th
Croatia closes off majority of its borders with Serbia.
November
Austria, Sweden and Macedonia introduce border controls.
October 16th
Afghan man shot dead by Bulgarian border guard.
December
UNHCR reports that 1 million refugees had reached Europe by sea in 2015.
2016
January
100 black-clad masked men attack immigrants at Stockholm Central Station.
February
Both Austria and Norway break international and EU law. Austria announces that it will set a daily cap on the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the country, and will limit daily asylum claims. Norway says they will reject all asylum seekers coming to the country.
February
French authorities start to demolish part of the 'Calais Jungle'.
April
Clashes at Idomeni refugee camp on Greece-Macedonia border result in 200 asylum seekers and 15 police officers being injured.
February
Locals protest against establishment of a screening centre; protests see petrol bombs thrown against police officers. Meanwhile, Turkey threatens to send millions of asylum seekers into Europe unless Turkey receives further funding to host the millions already in the country
February
Two Pakistani asylum seekers try to publicly hang themselves in Athens.
March
EU-Turkey deal: irregular migrants will be sent back to Turkey. Each Syrian sent back to Turkey will be replaced by a Syrian refugee resettled in the EU.
2017-19
June 2017
906 refugees are picked up off Libyan coast in one day.
May 2018
Two-year-old Mawda is shot dead by Belgian police as they were chasing a van carrying an asylum seeker.
August 2018
Sara Mardini, a Syrian refugee who saved 18 asylum seekers by swimming and pulling along their waterlogged dingy to Lesvos, is arrested for her work, along with co-volunteer Sean Binder, with a search and rescue NGO.
July 2019
Tajoura detention centre, where many aslyum seekers attempting to cross to Europe had been sent back to, is hit by an air strike. 53 are killed; 130 are injured. Questions are raised about the EU's policy of cooperating with militias to detain migrants and training the Libya Coast Guard which sends refugees back.
November 2017
CNN footage shows asylum seekers being sold at slave auctions in Libya
June 2018
Italy and Malta both deny entry to the NGO ship Aquarius. The ship has 629 people on board, including 7 pregnant women, 11 small children, and 123 unaccompanied minors.
July 2018
Italy says it will reject all foreign navy, as well as Frontex ships, which have boarded refugees at sea.
2020-21
​
August 2019
European statistics office estimates that close to 900,000 asylum seekers in the EU are waiting for their claims to be processed.
December 2019
UK government drops promise to replace the EU law that allows child refugees in Europe to reunite with their parents.
August 2020
Number of people who have crossed English Channel in small boats in 2020 passes 5,000. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel says the government is working to make the route ‘unviable’, and blames ‘activist lawyers’ for frustrating deportations.
September 2020
Fires destroy Moria camp, leaving thousands of people without shelter.
November 2020
A fire breaks out at Vathy refugee camp on the island of Samos, which also suffers an earthquake a few days later.
October 2019
Italian coastguard find the bodies of twelve people off the coast of Lampedusa. They drowned when a boat carrying fifty asylum seekers capsized.
February - March 2020
Turkey stops preventing people from crossing into Europe. Refugees and asylum seekers attempting to enter Greece are met with tear gas, water cannons, and stun grenades.
September 2020
Mass quarantine is imposed on Moria camp, despite warnings the camp is too overcrowded for social distancing, and that sanitation is insufficient. People in at-risk categories are not evacuated from the camp.
October 2020
Four people, including two young children aged five and eight, die whilst attempting to reach Britain by boat across the Channel.