2011م - 1444هـ
A BOOK OF Poems:

Expressions from our Youth



In 2009 the UNHCR Toronto office (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and COSTI Immigrant

Services organized the first Refugees and Human Rights Child and Youth Poetry Contest in commemoration of

World Refugee Day, June 20. The purpose of the contest has been to bring human rights education, particularly

awareness to the refugee situation, to the Canadian classroom. By asking youth to write poetry about refugees

and human rights acts as a tool to encourage Canada’s future to think as humanitarian and compassionate leaders

towards their brothers and sisters living worldwide.

Additionally, the publication of this book acts as a commemoration piece for the significant anniversaries for both

COSTI Immigrant Services and the UNHCR. In 2011 the UNHCR will celebrate its 60th anniversary of the 1951

Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of

Statelessness and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Fridtjof Nansen, League of Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees. COSTI Immigrant Services will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2012. In addition to the wide range of

settlement services provided to refugees, it operates the Ralph Chiodo Family Immigrant Reception Centre, which

provides accommodation and support services to government assisted refugees in the greater Toronto area. The

Centre’s operations are funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.