On 20 June, we mark World Refugee Day: a moment to recognise the strength and courage of millions of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict or persecution. It is also an opportunity to reaffirm a fundamental principle at the heart of international protection: the right to seek safety.
Enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, this right remains as relevant today as ever. It reflects a simple but essential truth: people fleeing must be able to find protection and safety, regardless of where they come from.
Yet in a world where displacement continues to rise, ensuring this right is increasingly complex. According to the latest figures of UNHCR, 117.3 million people had been forced to flee their homes globally due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. Among them were nearly 42.5 million refugees. Behind these figures are individuals and families whose journeys are shaped by conflict, instability, and the urgent search for safety.
The right to seek safety in a changing Europe
In Europe, migration and asylum policies continue to evolve in response to these global realities. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represents a major attempt to create a more coordinated framework for managing arrivals, strengthening procedures, and sharing responsibility across Member States.
At the same time, civil society organisations and local actors continue to underline a critical point: the right to seek safety must always be accompanied by full respect for fundamental rights, including access to fair procedures, dignity, and inclusion. Protection does not end at the border; it must be upheld throughout the entire journey of displacement and reception.
Ensuring this balance requires not only strong legal frameworks, but also cooperation between institutions, communities, and those directly affected by displacement.
From protection to participation
While the right to seek safety is a cornerstone of international protection, it also raises an important question: what comes after safety is reached?
In practice, safety is only meaningful when it opens the door to participation, stability, and belonging. This is where inclusion becomes essential: Not as a secondary step, but as a core component of protection systems that work.
Inclusion is not a one-way process. It is built through interaction, mutual understanding, and shared responsibility between newcomers and host communities. It requires spaces where people can contribute, be heard, and help shape the systems that affect their lives.
The EPIC-UP initiative and the work towards meaningful inclusion
While legal frameworks define rights, real inclusion is built locally. Be it through daily practices, local policies, and community cooperation. This is where the EPIC-UP initiative steps in.
EPIC-UP (Upscaling the European Platform of Integrating Communities) is a European-funded initiative that supports more effective migrant integration through participatory and collaborative approaches. The project brings together local authorities, civil society organisations, researchers, and migrant-led organisations to co-design more inclusive integration policies and services.
At the heart of EPIC-UP is a simple but powerful idea: people with lived experience of migration and displacement are not only recipients of support, but essential contributors to solutions. By involving them directly in decision-making processes, EPIC-UP helps ensure that policies are more responsive, grounded, and effective.
EPIC-UP creates spaces for dialogue and exchange among stakeholders working on migration and integration across Europe. Through its Communities of Practice and cross-sector collaboration, the project explores how local actors can better respond to complex and evolving displacement situations.
Conclusion
This World Refugee Day, we are reminded that the right to seek safety is only the beginning. It must be matched by systems and communities capable of transforming safety into stability, participation, and belonging.
Protecting people on the move means also to build societies where everyone – regardless of origin – has the opportunity to contribute, participate, and thrive.
Sources:
- European Commission – Migration and Asylum: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/asylum-eu_en
- EPIC-UP project: https://epicamif.eu/epic-up-project/