Posted By: Anonymous, 19 October 2010
WCN Chief Exec, Chris Gribble, blogs about his recent visit to Brussels to attend the International Cities of Refuge Network and Board meeting.
It was off to Brussels last week to catch up with our partner cities in the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) and for an ICORN Board Meeting. I’ve been a member of the Board for the past year, representing both Norwich and the UK among the 32 Cities of Refuge in the network. Each city makes a commitment to offering a place of safety for a writer who’s liberty and livelihood has been threatened (whether he or she is a novelist, poet, journalist, translator or cartoonist – the definition is wide and inclusive) and undertakes a year round programme of activities to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of speech.
We spent an afternoon catching up with our partners in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden – all of whom are taking part in the Digital Stories and Letters to Europe projects as part of the Shahrazad programme. Then there was the Board Meeting, which included a meeting at the European Parliament and another at the European Commission. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into the workings of the Parliament and the Commission (less fascinating was the 45 minutes it took to register, get a pass and gain entry to the buildings), and with rights under threat in so many places, absolutely crucial that Norwich was able to offer its own small degree of support in the world wide effort to promote universal human rights.
Elisabeth Dyvik (ICORN) and Sara Whyatt (PEN International). Helge Lunde (ICORN Executive Director) outside the European Commission in Brussels.
The economic and social climates are tough at the moment. Some say that charity begins at home and that finding money to support those in exile is a luxury we can’t afford. However, for hundreds of thousands of people across the world, home is something that has been torn away from them through no fault of their own. I’m immensely proud that Norwich is the first (and so far only) city in the UK to support the Cities of Refuge movement, and came back to the UK more determined than ever to expand the network across the UK.
Chris Gribble
