20 June - World Refugee Day
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20 June, marks World Refugee Day. This day is celebrated all around the world with events such as conferences, stand up comedies, concerts and memorial services.
20 June originally marked Africa Refugee Day. In 2000, this same date was adopted by a Special UN General Assembly Resolution as World Refugee Day in an expression of solidarity with Africa, host to the largest population of refugees in the world.
What is World Refugee Day trying to do?
- raise awareness about the plight of refugees and displaced persons
- highlight the situation of “forgotten” refugees and refugee situations
- reinforce the obligation of states to protect refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Amnesty International and World Refugee Day
This year Amnesty International turns its attention to the plight of internally displaced people within Chad. Read more.
Who is World Refugee Day for?
At the start of 2003, UNHCR estimated the number of people of concern to the organisation to be 20.6 million, of which 10.4 million were refugees. Most of these refugees and displaced persons live in dangerous situations, living in an unbearable state of limbo, with no way forward and no way back.
Developing countries are host to an estimated 78% of the world’s refugees, many of them struggling to protect the rights of their own citizens as well. A tiny percentage of refugees are resettled to places where they can make a new start and break out of the limbo that they were in. Others return to their country of origin, but are often pressed to do so before they are ready or before their country is ready to receive them. Some are able to stay in their country of asylum, to live and to work, and to enjoy legal rights like the citizens of the country.
In the developed world, in countries like those in Western Europe, North America, or Australia, it is getting harder and harder for refugees to find protection. These governments have introduced restrictions like stringent visa requirements, penalties on airlines that bring asylum-seekers into a country, and detention. These restrictions are designed to deter people from coming to their countries to seek protection.
World Refugee Day is a time to think about the plight and rights of refugees. It is a time to recall that for a refugee, every day is refugee day, when her rights are too often denied. And it is a time to act.
What can you do?
For more information about events hold on World Refugee Day in your country, contact your local Amnesty International section and participate in one of the many events celebrating the positive and diverse contributions refugees are making to your communities.
- Join Amnesty International
- Join the Urgent Action Network
- Contact the AI office in your country
- Donate now
