Every Day is World Refugee Day
By Erin Corbett
Photo courtesy of The Guardian
June 20, 2013 was WorldRefugee Day, a day dedicated to honoring those who have been forced to leavetheir countries due to fears of persecution, conflict, and violence. Likewise, the G8 summit is a forumfor 8 global giants (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the US, and the UK) todiscuss global challenges and potential solutions to move forward. This year’s forum (6/17-6/18) focusedespecially on the Syrian conflict and what to do with the Assad regime.
The crisis in Syria, ofcourse, brings the issue of refugees to the attention of the world, and withgood reason, as there are now over 1.5 million refugees that have fled thecountry. Unfortunately, the crisisin Syria is not the only cause for such a large number of refugees, which is anissue that is mirrored around the globe every day.
There are around 15million refugees in the world today, and around 28 million Internally DisplacedPeoples (IDPs). Being a refugee does not end once individualsand families flee their homes. It is a constant struggle and “the averagerefugee spends 12 years in camps and often has to endure crowded, unfamiliarand sometimes unsafe surroundings on a daily basis,” states The Guardian.
While it is important tohonor and admire these people for their strength as survivors, it is also areminder that too many people have been forced to live in communities withlittle hope of returning home or of starting a new life elsewhere. World Refugee Day is a reminder of theurgent need to bring displacement to an end as soon as possible.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has done a great job of responding to the immediate humanitarian needs of refugees around the world.However, governments, development actors, and citizens and organizations inboth the public and private sector need to come together now to continueefforts in finding solutions for people who have been displaced. For a family or an individualto be forced to leave their country, their home, their life, and to have tolive in a tent in a refugee camp in uncertainty and in the “unknown” isunacceptable and we have failed to address these global problems.
It is not only importantto continue to find solutions for those who have been displaced already, but itis imperative that the international community open its eyes to the horrificviolence that continues to force people to flee their communities and countriesevery day.
Though World Refugee Dayis a day to honor and admire the strength of both refugees and IDPs, it is alsoa time to remember that we, as an international community, have a job “tomobilize our collective outrage that 28,000 people are being uprooted fromtheir homes every day and that millions continue to live in limbo,” states Brookings-LSEProject on Internal Displacement.
While June 20, 2013 was a day to honor and admire these struggles, it was also a reminder of our duty tohonor these people by preventing and resolving the conflicts that uproot fartoo many people in the world on a daily basis.
World Refugee Day may be just another day for some, but for millions struggling around the world, World Refugee Day is every day.