Challenges in today’s Europe

• Current situation

  The discourse around migration in Europe is increasingly dominated by racist and xenophobic rhetoric.

  Several political forces systematically link migration to security issues, presenting people with migration backgrounds as a threat to European welfare and identity.

• What we know

  • The experience on the ground shows that there is widespread support across Europe for the inclusion of refugees in our societies.
  • These voices, however, do not manage to become loud enough to impose a narrative change.

What we want to achieve

Promote positive narratives on migration

• Our goal

  JRS seeks to correctly inform the public, stimulate critical thinking, counter stereotypes and anti-migration discourse and foster a positive narrative that highlights both the importance of welcoming and protecting refugees and the positive contribution they can bring to societies.

• The way we do it

  • Hand in hand with advocacy work: we aim to influence policy decisions by helping to shape public opinion on key issues that can help contribute to change.
  • With our partners across Europe: we promote common messaging using campaigning, press interviews, social media, videos and testimonials.

Our work

• Resources

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    Building a collective Intelligence with Critical, Diverse, and Inclusive thinking on Refuge and Migration

    This study conducted in-depth research among students participating in awareness-raising projects to identify what really works and what helps students develop valuable critical thinking skills. The 6 key lessons of this research are: CHANGE mobilised learning and critical thinking; some prejudices remain entrenched; the presence of refugees in classrooms has a huge impact; there are three clear student profiles; the context is heterogeneous and has an impact; and not all stages have the same participation.

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• Programmes

  • CHANGE

    We educate young people on issues faced by forced migrants and refugees. Our CHANGE projects foster critical thinking skills among young people on the positive contribution of forced migrants to society through a combination of a fact-based curriculum and storytelling, creating classroom encounters with refugees and migrants, and supporting their own voices in schools and local communities.

• Campaigns

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    Dear European Parliament

    JRS launched its second European campaign in 2024, ‘Dear European Parliament’, a campaign calling on all EU citizens to vote by highlighting how the EU parliament decisions can foster solidarity and hospitality, end migration detention, stop policies outsourcing the responsibility to protect those in need and expand safe and legal ways of reaching Europe..