Zrinka Bralo's blog

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that aren't so" said Mark Twain and it rings very true to me when I think about the migration debate all around the world. Last week I read a very bizarre story in the Sun about 12 people who lived in the attic of an empty house in the Midlands, and how

I went to the mock refugee camp in Trafalgar square this morning. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has set up these for one day only in 20 major cities in the world to highlight the plight of people in Darfur.

I arranged to meet a newspaper journalist there who wanted to write about Refugee Week. I thought it would be good for him to see it. I completely forgot that it might not be so good for me to see it. I suddenly remembered the plastic sheets with the UNHCR logo on them all over my windows in Sarajevo. The glass on all our windows had shattered from shelling within weeks of the war starting and as the winter set in, these plastic sheets became the main feature in the city. They were part of our humanitarian aid. I did not think that the sight of plastic sheets with a logo in Trafalgar square could bring back nasty memories so fast and that I could still be affected so strongly. But I was.

My name is Zrinka Bralo, and I am Executive Director of Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum in London. Yesterday, I spent a day at the South Bank with many of my colleagues and fellow Londoners at the launch of Refugee Week 2008.

I often say that I have refugee week every week, not only because a long time ago I was a refugee, but also because I do support work with refugees on a daily basis. However, this week is special because The United Nations General Assembly designated 20 June as World Refugee Day to recognize and celebrate the contribution of refugees throughout the world. And that is what we did on Sunday.