On June 20 we marked World Refugee Day by honouring the courage, resilience and humanity of those forced to flee their homes in search of safety.
Many of those fleeing conflict and persecution are journalists themselves. Forced into exile, they risk losing not only their homes but their platforms and their purpose. JHR equips these journalists with training and story grants, so they can keep working even in the most challenging circumstances.
In Canada, Soraya Amiri arrived from Afghanistan in 2022. She began her career here through the JHR-Meta Afghan Journalists in Residence Fellowship at The Walrus. Today, she continues as a Contributing Writer. In this essay, she reflects on what it means to reclaim her voice as a journalist in exile. Read her latest stories here. Mostafa Al-A’sar, another fellow originally from Egypt who resettled in Canada in 2024, joined the Contributing Writers Program in May and is already at work on his first article for The Walrus. Through their stories, Canadians gain a deeper understanding of the lives and events unfolding beyond our borders.
In Europe we fund and train exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists now based in the Baltics and Poland. With our support they continue reporting on shrinking civic space and government repression. Brestskaya Gazeta has documented the lives of former political prisoners, making visible the human toll of repression. Two young Belarusian bloggers used their platforms to counter state propaganda and foster dialogue on democratic values. And SOTA Vision reads letters to political prisoners on livestreams, helping ensure that those imprisoned in Russia are not forgotten.
In Turkey, where millions of Syrians settled after fleeing the now-toppled Assad regime, JHR-trained journalists have helped ensure that language barriers don’t stop refugees from accessing education, that legal aid is available to refugee women and that travel permits helped legally restricted refugees move freely to safer regions after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake.
At a moment of global upheaval, when self-interest drowns out solidarity, when aid budgets are slashed and the number of displaced people worldwide has never been higher, it is more urgent than ever to stand with refugees.
At JHR, we remain committed to supporting journalists in exile and to equipping local reporters with the tools they need to cover refugee rights objectively and accurately.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.