An instructor at a non-profit that teaches skateboarding to children, Belqisa’s dreams of pro-competition were put on hold when she had to escape Afghanistan. Now she’s seizing a chance for a new start.

Women and girls fleeing conflict, violence and insecurity are finding unsafe and substandard living conditions as they arrive in Greece, transit through the Balkans and seek refuge and asylum in Europe. The lack of consideration given to women and girls within the crisis response has serious implications for their safety and well-being. Organisations at the front lines of the refugee crisis report that women and children – who have made up 59% of arrivals in Greece since January 2016 – are experiencing serious and varied forms of gender-based violence, including rape and sexual exploitation.The international community has a responsibility to protect all women and girls, regardless of their immigration status, from gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation, and to provide life-saving assistance to those that have been subjected to such harm.

Imagine this: you’ve escaped persecution in your own country. You arrive somewhere new and you don’t’ know a soul. You don’t speak the language and you can’t even read the letters of the alphabet.

For Black History Month, we’re highlighting Black British Activists who have been pioneers in advocating for equality here in the UK.

65.6 million people around the world are fleeing crises caused by conflict, disaster and persecution. Over half of them are children.