World Refugee Day 2024

On Thursday, June 20, 2024, help celebrate World Refugee Day. Around the globe, the day is celebrated as a way to honour those who have been forced to flee their home countries due to persecution or conflict. The day is meant to highlight the strength, resiliency, and courage of those who had no choice but to leave their homes. The day is also observed by highlighting both the rights of those forced to flee, along with acknowledging their hopes and aspirations for the future.

World Refugee Day was founded in 2000 when the United Nations passed a resolution to mark June 20th as World Refugee Day and was then first celebrated in 2001. The day was chosen to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Originally named Africa Refugee Day, the day was later renamed World Refugee Day.

The focus for this year’s World Refugee Day is to prioritize solidarity with refugees to create a more welcoming global approach, one that embraces refugees and asylum seekers. Now more than ever it is necessary to provide a safe haven to those who have been displaced. It also means that more policies are needed to address both the rights and needs of those who have fled. Safe environments are needed where refugees and asylum seekers are welcomed and supported by their new communities and provided with the resources necessary to flourish.

While focusing on the importance of prioritizing solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers, it is especially important at this critical moment in history, in which hate crimes and policies against the Gender, Sexual, and Diverse (GSRD) communities are increasing, to bolster support for GSRD refugees and asylum seekers. Between 2012 to 2017 over 30,000 GSRD refugees applied for asylum status based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in the United States. In Canada between 2012 and 2015 13% of all asylum decisions were based on sexual orientation. As of 2021, there were approximately 26.6 million refugees and 4.4 million asylum seekers around the world, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Unfortunately, it is unknown how many of this global total identified as members of the GSRD community.

Currently, there are close to 70 countries in the world that criminalize consensual relations between same-sex partners. Worse yet, 12 countries impose the possibility of the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual activity. Another 14 countries criminalize the gender identity or expression of transgender people.

Due to such repressive legislation against GSRD communities, the number of GSRD refugees and asylum seekers has risen over the decades. Therefore, it is more important than ever to find ways to support these individuals, along with all other refugees and asylum seekers. Organizations such as Rainbow Railroad, Rainbow Migration, and Jewish Immigrant Aid Services in Canada aid GSRD refugees and asylum seekers. Globally, there are a slew of organizations that also aid and support GSRD refugees and asylum seekers.

On June 20th this year help celebrate World Refugee Day. Get the word out to your community about the significance of supporting refugees and asylum seekers. There are many ways to help. Whether this means educating yourself on issues related to refugees and asylum seekers, volunteering, donating, or helping to sponsor a refugee or asylum seeker get involved and help make a difference in the world and in the lives of those left vulnerable due to persecution and conflict.

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