World Refugee: Day 20 June 2010

Angelina Jolie Speaks Out for World Refugee Day

Presidential Proclamation - World Refugee Day

On World Refugee Day, we honor the contributions and resilience of those forced to flee from their homelands due to violence, persecution, or natural disasters. The hard-earned wisdom, diverse experiences, and unceasing courage of refugees enrich our Nation and strengthen our unique narrative that America stands as a beacon of hope and opens our doors to those in need. Today, we celebrate the triumph of the human spirit exemplified by these displaced individuals, and acknowledge the compassion of those who welcome them into their homes and communities. Continued

World Refugee Day and Recent Travel to Australia, Thailand, and Laos

MR. TONER: Good afternoon and welcome to the State Department. It’s my great pleasure to have with us here today to start off our briefing, in honor of World Refugee Day, to have Assistant Secretary Eric Schwartz here to talk to us a little bit about the day and about the Secretary’s announcement and about his recent trip. So without any further ado, he’ll take your questions. Continued with Video

Pelosi Statement on United Nations World Refugee Day

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in recognition of United Nations World Refugee Day, which will be observed on Sunday, June 20:

"On Sunday, United Nations World Refugee Day, we again bring attention to the plight of men, women and children all over the world who have been forced to flee their homes for safety. The theme of this year's World Refugee Day is: 'They have taken my home, but they can't take my future.' This is especially fitting given the current statistics on refugees around the world. Continued

Strange, well not really, nothing seems to have come up as to statements by the so called right, especially the recent administration personal, they seem to enjoy creating refugees especially from wars of choice and economic policies! But alas we are continuing to create more refugees and we fail to stop others from doing same!

Real words and actions of meaning in concern and the help in the plight of others comes only from those not hired to lead, some well known but most not known at all and to rarely get recognition!

Angelina Jolie visits refugees in Ecuador

Angelina Jolie visited a refugee center in Sucombios province north Ecuador, Friday, June 18. The center houses thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in adjacent Colombia. Photo Credit: UNHCR

June 19, 2010, (Sawf News) - Angelina Jolie visited a refugee center in Sucombios province north Ecuador, Friday, June 18. The center houses thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in adjacent Colombia.

Eighty percent of the women in Sucombios are victims of violence and the center provides them shelter, day care for their children, and psychological support. Continued

Kyrgyz Crisis Brings Global Refugee Problem Into Focus

Ethnic Uzbek refugees in the village of Sura-Tash on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border

19 June 2010 This week, thousands of people in southern Kyrgyzstan streamed toward neighboring Uzbekistan, fleeing for their lives after ethnic violence erupted. While some were granted passage, uncertainty reigned and a humanitarian crisis exploded on both sides of the border.

Abdufattoh Rasulov, an ethnic Uzbek, told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that many people died in a stampede.

"Corridors are so narrow and people push one another. Old men and women, as well as small children, fell under [other people's] feet. Uzbek border guards periodically close the border and then open again in an hour. People wait the whole night sitting on the ground," Rasulov said.

The ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan has displaced some 400,000 people -- an unprecedented event in the country's history. But that figure represents less than 1 percent of the total number of involuntarily uprooted people in the world. Continued

UNHCR: United Nations High Commission for Refugees

UNHCR reaches milestone in resettlement of Iraqi refugees

Members of an Iraqi family referred for resettlement arrive in their new home in Europe.

18 June 2010 AL HASSAKEH, Syria, June 18 (UNHCR) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres announced on Friday that UNHCR has referred 100,000 Iraqi refugees for resettlement from Middle East countries since 2007.

While hailing the milestone, Guterres said more needed to be done. "A hundred thousand submissions of Iraqi refugees is a tremendous achievement. Many have been living in limbo for years. This will increasingly be the case if states don't continue to welcome Iraqi refugees for resettlement," said Guterres.

He also urged resettlement countries "to facilitate the speedy departure of refugees they have accepted for resettlement." Continued

UNHCR: World Refugee Day 2010

This year's World Refugee Day on June 20 has as its theme, "Home," in recognition of the plight of more than 40 million uprooted people around the world. Around 10 million of them are refugees of special concern to UNHCR.

At UNHCR we help people find new homes and new futures through resettlement, through voluntary repatriation and through local integration. Most of the time, and where it's possible, refugees prefer to return to their home countries.

 

WRD 2010 WRD Message: High Commissioner António Guterres pays tribute to refugees

Help us help them to find a place to call home. Continued

And here in the United States we have our own growing numbers of refugees, Homeless, from older veterans to the new generations growing numbers, families who have lost homes and jobs, tent cities to homeless shelters, some who choose most who don't!