World Refugee Day

June 20 is World Refugee Day, an annual United Nations day that brings attention to the situations facing refugees around the world. This year’s theme reflects refugees’ dilemmas and the difficult decisions they must make to ensure their safety.

According to the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), countries worldwide host over 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people (people who flee their homes but remain within their own countries). Eighty percent of refugees are women and children.

Further resources:

• The World Refugee Day webpage, where you can hear refugees tell their stories in their own words
• InterAction’s page on the Sahel to see how people in that area are migrating to survive a food crisis 
• A blog by author Khaled Hosseini on his own experiences that anyone can be a refugee and his World Refugee Day PSA
• InterAction member HelpAge USA’s report on the specific challenges faced by older refugees