Who we are

International Refugee Trust (IRT) was founded in 1989 to help improve the lives of refugees, internally displaced people (IDP) and returnees around the world.

The International Refugee Trust (IRT), headquartered in the United Kingdom, is a recognised international charity with a three-decade legacy of extending crucial aid to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by conflicts and disasters in Africa and the Middle East. Standing resolutely even when other humanitarian bodies have concluded their efforts, the IRT collaborates closely with local partners such as children’s homes, schools, and hospitals. This partnership network, spanning urban and remote locations, is dedicated to addressing the persistent needs of refugee children, including those who have suffered separation, abandonment, and exploitation due to conflicts and natural disasters.

By engaging with local actors, we ensure our interventions resonate within their communities, fostering seamless integration of responses aimed at children’s well-being. Our initiatives encompass child protection and reunification, capacity building, economic empowerment: establishing robust support networks for families, their households along with their communities. We also ardently champion national and international advocacy strategies, channelling efforts toward enhancing child protection practices and outcomes on a broader scale.

We support small projects overseas that benefit the forgotten refugees. Refugees who, after the initial crisis, are no longer deemed to be newsworthy.

Watch an interview with Sir Terry Wogan and IRT’s founder Father Kevin Doheny from 1990.