Campaign by Story
Running the Oxford Half for Asylum Welcome
This October, people will be running the Oxford Half Marathon in support of Asylum Welcome - a charity working across Oxfordshire with asylum seekers, refugees, and vulnerable migrants.
Every day, people seeking safety arrive in the UK having experienced displacement, uncertainty, and trauma. Once here, many face new challenges: navigating complex systems, living on extremely limited financial aid, and often experiencing isolation while waiting for decisions about their future.
Asylum Welcome works alongside people at every stage of that journey. They provide practical advice, advocacy, and community-based support - helping individuals and families access housing, healthcare, education, and legal advice. Just as importantly, they create opportunities for people to rebuild their lives with dignity, security, and hope.
But this work is only possible with support.
By running the Oxford Half, you will be raising funds to help ensure that these programmes continue: from youth programmes and digital inclusion to advocacy and frontline advice services. Every donation, whatever the size, contributes directly to helping people move through some of the most difficult periods of their lives.
It’s a chance to contribute, in a small but meaningful way, to a cause that matters - and to stand in solidarity with people rebuilding their lives in our community.
If you’re able to contribute, thank you! It really does make a difference.
DID YOU KNOW?
What is the difference between refugees and asylum seekers?
Asylum seekers and refugees are people who have been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war or violence. Asylum seekers are still in the process of seeking protection in another country: They must submit a claim, which is considered by the host country. Once a person receives a positive decision on this asylum claim then they can live in their host country as a refugee.
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as a person who
Owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
Does everyone have the right to seek asylum?
The right to seek asylum is recognised as a universal human right. Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Do people have to claim asylum in the first country they reach?
No, they do not. The 1951 Refugee Convention, which is the basis of asylum laws around the world, does not require that a person must claim asylum in the first “safe” country they reach.
In any event, burden-sharing, international cooperation and solidarity are key elements to the international protection of refugees. If asylum seekers were bound to stop in the first “safe” country, certain countries would be disproportionately burdened.
Facts about refugees in the UK
• Refugees make up less than half a percent of the overall population in the UK.
• The UK is home to just 1% of the refugees who have been forcibly displaced worldwide.
*Source and for more information
https://www.rescue.org/uk/article/facts-about-refugees-key-facts-faqs-and-statistics
https://www.rescue.org/uk/article/facts-about-refugees-key-facts-faqs-and-statistics