This World Refugee Day has been plagued with headlines about the barbaric treatment of immigrants. But the event held every year wants to draw attention to the plight of displaced communities across the globe.
The UN Refugee Agency has also published a damning new report. Forced displacement has “hit a new high” for the fifth year in a row, it said. “Led by the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan’s war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.”
An estimated 16.2 million people were newly displaced in 2017 according to the UN, bringing the end of year total to an estimated 68.5 million.
“But there is reason for some hope,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly,” he said.
“No one becomes a refugee by choice, but the rest of us can have a choice about how we help.”
