In December 2000, a special United Nations resolution was passed marking June 20 as World Refugee Day. The first World Refugee Day was held on June 20, 2001 since that year marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The Organization of African Unity already marked June 20 as African Refugee Day and the United Nations resolution marked that day to call attention to the estimated 43.u million people driven from their homes by war, poverty, and upheavals in countries around the world. According to the most recent report by the United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), four-fifths of the world's refugees come from developing nations with Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia being the countries with the most refugees per capita. Millions of
refugees are forced into internment camps or driven to make desperate attempts to enter neighbouring countries illegally.
As part of the World Refugee Day 2021 activities, the UNHCR has launched the "Dilemma Campaign" to increase understanding of why refugees need help. Intended to show us the sorts of life or death decisions that refugees often face, the Dilemma Campaign has four main flight scenarios and asks one haunting question: What would you do:
- If your country is embroiled in a regional conflict, do you stay and risk being drawn into the conflict? Or do you attempt to flee?
- Do you face death in a war zone? Or do you escape and leave loved ones behind?
- Do you stay and risk being killed? Or to you attempt to flee and risk being kidnapped, raped or tortured?
As part of his message for the 2011 World Refugee Day, United National Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said:
No one wants to become a refugee. No one should have to endure this humiliating and arduous ordeal. Yet, millions do. Even one refugee forced to flee, one refugee forced to return to danger is one too many."
World Refugee Day is also intended to combat negative stereotypes relating to refugees which can often affect whether they will be allowed to obtain the right to remain in those countries where they are seeking asylum. In many cases, countries denying asylum can lead to refugees being forced to return and facing torture, imprisonment, or worse. Canada recently marked the anniversary of the tragic voyage of the MS. St. Louis in which hundred of German Jews, fleeing Nazi persecution, were turned away from Canada, the United States, and Cuba and many of those refugees eventually died back in Nazi Germany. While the number of refugee claimants to Canada have actually been going down in recent years, the introduction of new punitive legislation such as the proposed Bill C-49 which criminalizes human trafficking has already been targeted by refugee groups as being overly harsh. Similar measures are being passed and approved in other countries, spurred on by anti-immigration politicians. Since many countries that already host large refugee populations find their own resources being overwhelmed, the need for other countries to take up the burden is facing active resistance.
World Refugee Day activies are being held around the world with conferences, festivities and tributes from private citizens to celebrities such as UNCHR's Special Envoy, Angelica Jolie. Contact your local UNCHR branch to find about about World Refugee Day in your area.
For more information on World Refugee Day
To watch Angelica Jolie's video message on YouTube
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