World Refugee Day.
“This is not a matter of burden sharing. This is a matter of distribution of global responsibility, not only taking into account the broad idea of our common belonging to the human race, but also taking into account very specific international legal obligations. The source of the problems is war and hatred, not people fleeing them; refugees are among the first to be victims of terrorism ”- UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Every year on June 20, the world community celebrates World Refugee Day, approved by the UN General Assembly (resolution 55/76) in 2000.
Refugees and internally displaced persons are defined as persons who fled their countries because of a well-founded fear of persecution due to racial, religious affiliation, citizenship, political views or belonging to a particular social group who cannot or do not want to return. Many people become refugees due to natural disasters or man-made disasters.
According to international law, refugees are people who cannot or do not want to return to their countries, to their native lands due to well-founded fears of becoming a victim of persecution.
Currently, about 22.5 million refugees and 25 million internally displaced persons are registered on the planet.
In a world where violence forces hundreds of families to flee their homes every day, the support of the international community must be shown. And the international community is consolidating its efforts to alleviate the plight of these people. Established in 1950, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is currently the central international agency working towards this goal.
In 2016, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees launched the #WithRefugees initiative to sign a petition calling on governments to take collective action and share responsibility for the fate of refugees. The petition calls on governments to provide refugee children with access to education, refugee families a safe place to live, and to provide every refugee with access to jobs or new skills.
We’re inviting you to make a difference today by donating to the Chechyna Appeal.
Every dollar, euro and pound you give will help evacuate LGBTI people in the most danger. And to pressure the Chechen authorities to stop this persecution.