Following the recent special session of UPF Humanistic Dialogues devoted to discussing the origins of the conflict in Ukraine, a second session has already been organized, focusing on the weakest and most vulnerable part of this whole conflict: the refugees.

“Refugees from Ukraine in Catalonia: sheltering and helping” will be held on 5 April, from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm, in the auditorium of the Ciutadella campus, in a session that will be broadcast via the UPF website and for which registration is required to attend in person.

With this event, UPF seeks to demonstrate its commitment to refugees, support those who seek shelter by universities, and create a space for meeting and not confrontation.

With this event, UPF seeks to demonstrate its commitment to refugees, support those who seek shelter by universities and create a space for meeting and not confrontation between the Russian and Ukrainian communities.

The session also aims to generate greater knowledge on the subject and raise awareness and help to find concrete solutions (from the educational, legal, socio-emotional, juridical, economic fields and so on), regarding an issue that is fully reflected in the University’s Planetary Wellbeing initiative.

The event will be opened by Oriol Amat, UPF rector, and Ester Oliveras, vice-rector for Social Commitment and Sustainability at the University, who will outline what the institution can offer right now to university students coming from Ukraine and what other actions are planned, information that is being collected on the special website on the conflict.

Round table and panel interventions on how to receive and help refugees

Afterwards, the first part of the session will take place, with the debate “Refugees from Ukraine in Catalonia: sheltering and helping”, chaired by Sílvia Cóppulo, journalist and director of the Business Leadership Observatory of the UPF-BSM.

The round table will involve Victòria Alsina, minister of Foreign Action and Open Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which is carrying out various actions in this area; Gemma Pinyol, associate research professor of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration (GRITIM-UPF), who will give her academic point of view on the refugee crisis; Enric Morist Güell, coordinator of the Red Cross of Catalonia, and Tamara Djermanovic, a professor at the UPF Faculty of Humanities, director of the Seminar of Slavonic Studies, and Humanistic Dialogues coordinator.

The second part of the event will involve different guests on the panel to speak about “Projects in action” to help Ukrainian refugees that are currently taking place in Catalonia. These people lead various entities and initiatives that play an active role in sheltering and helping these refugees, who will explain what they are doing and how best to collaborate.

Expected to speak are Carme Claudín, an associate senior research at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs); Montserrat Rovira Jarque, head of the Barcelona City Council Department of Social Emergency and Urgent Care Services of the Municipal Institute of Social Services; Yuri Mihalchenko, a Barcelona artist, born in Kyiv.

Other voices will be those of Olena Gvozdeva, director of the tourist agency Novotravel, which has now become the centre of direct help for displaced refugees in Barcelona; Toni Luna, vice-rector for Internationalization at UPF; a representative of the UPF Law Clinic, and Yasmin Córdoba, journalist of TV3-Corporació Catalana Mitjans Audiovisuals, who recently covered the information from the border between Ukraine and Poland.

Open session, musical performance and collection of material and supplies

At the end of the event the floor will be opened up for students from Ukraine present in the auditorium, and (if applicable) also for refugees among the attendees. The session will conclude with a musical performance by Ukrainian musician Yuri Mykhaylychenko, who dedicates the song ’The Cranes’ to Ukrainian refugees.

On the same day of the extraordinary humanistic dialogue session, on 5 April, the Ciutadella campus will be the venue for the collection of food and hygiene products and clothing for refugees, which can be delivered to a point in the lobby of the Roger de Llúria building (throughout the day) and to another point at the entrance to the auditorium (during the morning until the end of the event, at around 2.30 pm).