The United Nations General
Assembly established 20 June as World Refugee Day in 2001,
and since then it has been celebrated around the world each
year as a salute to the indomitable spirit and courage of
the world's refugees.
It takes courage to be a refugee
The theme for World Refugee Day in 2005 is ‘courage’: not just in enduring the dangers and violence of the crises that made them refugees, but also in the courage refugees show in rebuilding their lives and contributing to society in difficult or unfamiliar circumstances.
In this year’s World Refugee Day awareness campaign,
out of the roughly 17 million refugees under our protection,
we profile five individuals from five different regions. To
find out more about this year’s
theme and view our Portraits in Courage, click
here.
Help celebrate World Refugee Day
If you’d like to celebrate World Refugee Day,
get in touch with your local organization working to help
refugees or organise an event yourself and let us know your
plans.
A number of events are already planned in our region. Click here for details on WRD events or email details of your event to aulcapi@unhcr.ch
UNHCR is asking schools to salute the courage
of refugees by marking World Refugee Day this year. There
are lots of ways schools can get involved, from holding class
discussions, showing a film, mounting an exhibition or competition,
to organizing a fundraiser. Click here for
our WRD Schools’ page.
Order free display materials from our It takes a courage to be a refugee campaign.
How World Refugee Day 2005 was celebrated across Australia?
World Refugee Day was celebrated in each state
by governments, NGOs, community groups, schools and citizens,
as a salute to the courage of refugees. Click here for information on some of these events.
The Nansen Refugee Award In honour the first High Commissioner for Refugees, an annual award is given to individuals or organizations for special services to the cause of refugees.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors Angelina Jolie, Barbara Hendricks, Giorgio Armani, Julien Clerc, Adel Imam – Find out more about the work of our Goodwill Ambassadors.
Gallery of Prominent Refugees Featuring refugees or former refugees who have achieved special status within a community because of their achievements, or because they have overcome hardship to build a new life.
