Every year, the world celebrates United Nations’ World Refugee Day on June 20 to celebrate and honor refugees from across the globe. The World Refugee Day was first founded in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
The UNHCR marked the occasion yesterday by raising awareness of the 82.4 million displaced people who were forced to flee their countries. Public figures too joined the movement to support or raise funds for refugees:
1. Karen Wazen
Lebanese-British influencer, entrepreneur and UNHCR High Profile Supporter recalled her past experiences visiting refugee camps:
“Today is #WORLDREFUGEEDAY and I can’t help but think of the beautiful children that I had the chance to meet through my visits with the @unhcr_arabic. It is always so hard to take in the harsh reality that refugees live in on a day to day basis. yet every time I would leave the camps I was always so amazed to witness such STRENGTH and HOPE in their eyes…The hope that one day they will be able to return home, the strength to continue to push through these hard times.”
2. Khaled Hosseini
Afghan-American author, activist and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Khaled Hosseini sat down with swimmer and refugee Abbas Karimi to talk about his career and moving from Afghanistan to the US:
“Meeting @abbaskarimiswim was one a truly joyful experience. Our lives are so different but our stories share something common – we are both Aghans and we are both refugees who found a new home in the US. That second chance is something neither of us take for granted.”
3. Maher Zain
Lebanese-Swedish singer-songwriter Maher Zain highlighted his own experience as a refugee and shared Olympian Yonas Kinde’s story via Twitter:
Yonas’s story is inspiring for many of us including me. I am a refugee who fled the Lebanese civil war as a young child and came to Sweden with my family. “To be a refugee is not a choice!” #WorldRefugeeDay https://t.co/twQlGbc49M
— Maher Zain (@MaherZain) June 20, 2021
4. Angelina Jolie
Actress and Special Envoy for UNHCR Angelina Jolie visited Burkina Faso to spotlight the fastest growing emergency in the world with more than 1.2 million people displaced since 2019:
“We have to wake up to the track we are on globally, with so many conflicts raging and the very real possibility that climate change will force tens if not hundreds of millions of people to have to leave their homes in the future, with no possibility of return. The way the international community tries to address conflict and insecurity is broken. It is erratic, it is unequal, it is built on inherited privilege, it is subject to the whim of political leaders, and it is geared towards the interests of powerful countries.”
5. Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan thanked refugees and Londoners who were frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic:
This #WorldRefugeeDay I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all refugees, Londoners included, who stepped up to work on the frontline throughout the pandemic. Having already endured so much, you bravely put yourselves at risk to keep us safe and we are truly grateful. https://t.co/swM1jNn3rK
— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 20, 2021