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There are more refugees now than ever before

The Right to Refuge project features radio programmes in nine languages which explore the global and local position of refugees in the 21st century.

The project aims to raise awareness of the plight of millions of displaced people at an international and national level, to cut through claims and counter-claims about refugees in order to provide clear information and analysis, as well as to generate a dialogue between refugees and the various government and institutional agencies with which they come into contact.

The programmes, which give the people concerned a direct voice in talking about their lives, provide a lifeline by radio to audiences in key geographical regions where refugees are facing increasing hardship and the situation is becoming particularly acute.

Project aims:

• To raise awareness of refugees
• To cut through the claims and counter-claims about refugees
• To give refugees a direct voice
• To create a dialogue between refugees and various government agencies

The project was developed by the BBC World Service Education in partnership with the BBC World Service Trust.

50 years of the UN Convention

The year 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951). It was originally set up to provide a framework for handling the humanitarian crisis of millions of people displaced during the Second World War.

However, the beginning of the 21st century has seen more people than ever before uprooted from their homes, separated from their families, and fleeing war, persecution or natural disaster.

The UN Convention has been the cornerstone of international refugee protection for 50 years. But the concept of a refugee has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War.

With economic migrants now using the "asylum route" as the only legal way to enter developed countries, some Western politicians are calling for the Convention to be amended.

Refugees are often misrepresented

In 2001, there were over 21 million people world-wide who were defined as being "of concern" to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Numerous though this community is, it remains a hugely misunderstood and misrepresented group.

The radio series have been produced in English, Russian, Spanish for Americas, Albanian, Serbian/Croatian, Indonesian, French for Africa, Urdu and Persian. Each programme has different stories, experiences and concerns.

However, the focus of the project is to give a voice to refugees themselves and to the often unheard and under-represented groups of women, children and the elderly.

These are simple, poignant stories which tell of the struggle for physical survival and human dignity.