5 things to know about Refugee Week

The world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary makes its annual return to our venues this month.

In an ideal world there would be no need for Refugee Week, but in our current climate its existence, in this country particularly, is arguably more important than ever. At a time when so many prominent figures are seeking ways to be increasingly divisive, Refugee Week offers a much-needed counter. It’s a means to bring together people from different backgrounds to connect through creativity and foster a broader understanding of why people are displaced, and the challenges they face when seeking safety.

Ahead of the 2026 edition of Refugee Week, which we’ll be acknowledging through several events, activities and artworks here at the Southbank Centre, here are five things to know about this annual celebration and its origins.

It’s been happening for 28 years

Refugee Week was first established in the UK back in 1998 as a ‘direct reaction to hostility in the media and society in general towards refugees and asylum seekers’. In the decades since it has grown to become a global celebration, and it’s estimated that each year over two million people participate in Refugee Week events across more than 20 countries.

It wasn’t the first annual celebration of refugees

For that we need to look to Africa. On 20 June 1974 the Organisation of African Unity’s Refugee Convention – a legal instrument governing refugee protection in Africa – came into force. In acknowledgement of this, the following year, the OAU resolved to mark 20 June as Africa Refugee Day ‘in order to raise funds for assistance to refugees’.

‘Hang on’, you may be thinking, ‘isn’t 20 June also World Refugee Day?’ It is indeed. In 2001 the United Nations wanted to recognise and celebrate the 50 year anniversary of their 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. They chose to do so by establishing an annual day to ‘honour, raise awareness and solicit support for refugees around the globe’. Acknowledging the work already done by the Organisation of African Unity in this very field, the UN agreed with the OAU to have World Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day. It’s been celebrated on 20 June ever since, with Refugee Week also aligning itself to the same mid-June date.

In the UK Refugee Week activities are coordinated by Counterpoints Arts

Based in Hoxton, Counterpoints Arts work at the intersection of climate, racial justice, mental health and displacement. The support art by and about refugees and migrants by providing a platform for people who have sought sanctuary to share their experiences, perspectives and creative work on their own terms. We’ve proudly worked with Counterpoints Arts for two decades, hosting a huge breadth of creative events at the Southbank Centre as part of Refugee Week each year from conversations to concerts, dance to discussions, performances to puppetry.

Every Refugee Week has a theme

Beyond its underlying message as a celebration of the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary, each year Refugee Week adopts a central theme. Last year it was ‘community as a superpower’, in 2024 it was ‘our home’ and in 2020, during a Covid-19 enforced online celebration, the Refugee Week theme was ‘imagine’. This year’s Refugee Week theme is courage. As the Counterpoint Arts website details, ‘for refugees around the world, courage is often a daily necessity,’ but ‘courage isn’t always loud or bold. It can be found in simple acts’ such as ‘opening a door to your neighbour… speaking up [or] sharing your story’.

At the Southbank Centre Refugee Week is a little longer than a week

Though the official dates of Refugee Week 2026 are 15 – 21 June, our own celebrations stretch out beyond those boundaries. We’ve hopeful and inspiring art installations from Lakwena Maciver and musician Abimaro Gunnell and Malak Mattar that will stay in place outside our Royal Festival Hall throughout the summer. And we’ve a significant celebration on the weekend of 26 – 28 June, with a free day of music on our terrace, films from Arab Film Club in our Purcell Room, engaging conversation led by Elif Shafak in our Queen Elizabeth Hall, and a big night of music comedy and spoken word co-curated by Anoushka Shankar in our Royal Festival Hall.