World Refugee Day 2019.
World Refugee Day is a global observance. It is observed on 20th June every year. It is celebrated to honor all the refugees and spread awareness among people to come forward to help and support them.
Refugees are basically a result of horrifying violence, persecution, poverty, drought, war, conflicts and various other events that occur in various countries across the world. Refugees are the people who have a very tough life as they have been forced to run away from their land, homes, people under the threat of war, persecution, conflict etc.
UNHCR informed RTE that the number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict has topped 70 million for the first time ever. That is equivalent to every man, woman and child in Britain and Ireland being forced from their homes. It is the largest number recorded in the UN Refugee Agency’s almost seven decades of service.
The total number has doubled in the past 20 years and climbed by well over two million in the past year alone.
Syrians were the next largest, with almost 900,000 people forced from their homes during 2018. This brings to a staggering 13 million the number of Syrians who have been forcibly displaced by the ongoing crisis gripping their homeland.
In Colombia, 8 million people have been displaced, as have 5.4 million Congolese.
Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution and terror.
On this day let us commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. According to the United Nations, 85 percent of refugees around the world are disproportionately being hosted by the poorest countries and middle-income countries next to their own, leaving wealthier countries relatively untouched by the crisis that is overwhelming those poorer nations. . There is a huge imbalance in international support for the world’s displaced people.
As a Columban Congregation, we strive to help the marginalized and the excluded, migrants, refugees, displaced persons regardless of their origin, religion and background. It is particularly treacherous for women and minors who can easily fall in the hands of unscrupulous traffickers.
The UNCHR encourages people to mark the day by attending local World Refugee Day events, watching and sharing videos and by raising awareness on social media.
It is our responsibility to raise awareness on this terrible phenomenon in the international community throughout the world.
Kofi Annan: “I urge you to celebrate the extraordinary courage and contributions of refugees past and present.”
A Prayer for Refugees by CRS.
God of our Wandering Ancestors,
Long have we known
That your heart is with the refugee:
That you were born into time
In a family of refugees
Fleeing violence in their homeland,
Who then gathered up their hungry child
And fled into alien country.
Their cry, your cry, resounds through the ages:
“Will you let me in?”
Give us hearts that break open
When our brothers and sisters turn to us with that same cry.
Then surely all these things will follow:
Ears will no longer turn deaf to their voices.
Eyes will see a moment for grace instead of a threat.
Tongues will not be silenced but will instead advocate.
And hands will reach out—
working for peace in their homeland, working for justice in the lands where they seek safe haven.
Lord, protect all refugees in their travels.
May they find a friend in me
And so make me worthy
Of the refuge I have found in you.
AMEN
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