Podcasts are a great way to learn about something new and broaden your knowledge and thinking. Specifically when it comes to refugee experiences and migration, podcasts provide a highly accessible way to hear some first-hand accounts of the refugee experience – from being forced out of one’s native country to anxiously crossing borders to integrating into an entirely new environment. Here are 6 of my favorite podcasts (in no particular order) related to the refugee experience.
1. I Am Not Your Refugee
I Am Not Your Refugee reports on refugees leading their own projects and reshaping the way migration is talked about. Hosted by Mahmoud Hassino, a Syrian refugee himself, with interviews by Bairbre Flood, the podcast spotlights refugee-led work across different countries, from a Syrian activist group in Athens to a photography project in Jordan’s Zaatari Camp and an LGBTQ+ refugee network in Türkiye. Despite rising hostility from European governments towards refugees, this series aims to shine a positive light on refugees, showing them as journalists, artists and community activists.
Available on: openDemocracy
2. Wander
Wander approaches the refugee experience through poetry, giving writers living through displacement a space to amplify their voices through writing. Produced by Bairbre Flood, who also worked on the aforementioned I Am Not Your Refugee, and supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, the podcast features poets living in refugee camps around the world. Now in its fifth year as of 2025, Wander was created in solidarity with people seeking refuge, as well as Traveller and Roma poets, and centers writers with lived experience of migration.
Available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts
3. Forced To Flee
Produced by the UN Refugee Agency, Forced to Flee takes listeners through major displacement crises from the past several decades. Across seven episodes, the series shares stories of refugees and humanitarian workers whose lives were shaped by war, escape, and rebuilding. Some stories focus on traumatic journeys, such as fleeing Vietnam by sea and falling into the hands of pirates, while others show how people found purpose after displacement, like an orphaned student whose life changed through photography.
Available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | UNHCR | YouTube | Deezer
4. Resettled
Resettled, hosted by former Iraqi refugee Ahmed Badr, tells the stories of refugees after they have arrived in the United States. Badr’s own family fled Iraq after their home in Baghdad was bombed in 2006, giving the series a personal connection to the questions it explores. Across six episodes, the podcast follows refugees adjusting to new lives in Virginia: a family entering their first American home, a high schooler confronting stage fright, and a chef sacrificing stability in pursuit of his American dream. Instead of focusing only on what forced people to leave, Resettled asks what it actually takes to begin again.
Available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | VPM | NPR
5. Displaced
Displaced takes a more policy-focused look at forced displacement and global humanitarian crises. Produced by Vox Media and hosted by Grant Gordon and Ravi Gurumurthy from the International Rescue Committee, the podcast features conversations with humanitarian leaders, foreign policy experts, and innovators about how they understand and respond to crises around the world. Instead of centering one person’s resettlement journey, Displaced asks broader questions about why displacement happens, how governments and aid organizations respond, and what it takes to address these crises at scale.
Available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHEART | Amazon Music | LiSTNR
6. The Wait
Published by The Guardian, The Wait is a five-part narrative podcast about refugees stranded in Indonesia, where many live for years waiting for legal status and without the right to work or study. Journalist Nicole Curby and activist Mozhgan Moarefizadeh guide listeners through the uncertainty of waiting and the struggle to choose between returning to danger or remaining in limbo for the chance of resettlement.
Available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | The Wait Podcast
By Allison Lu
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