World Refugee Day 2017

World Refugee Day (WRD) is commemorated annually on June 20th. The official WRD page is on the UNHCR web site; visit to learn more about the agency's #WithRefugees campaign. UNHCR also publishes its Global Trends report on WRD. This year's edition reports the following:

"Over the past two decades, the global population of forcibly displaced people has grown substantially from 33.9 million in 1997 to 65.6 million in 2016, and it remains at a record high. The growth was concentrated between 2012 and 2015, driven mainly by the Syrian conflict along with other conflicts in the region such as in Iraq and Yemen, as well as in sub-Saharan Africa including Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan."

The total displacement figure of 65.6 million is broken down as follows:
- 22.5 million people who were refugees at end-2016 (includes 17.2 million under UNHCR’s mandate + 5.3 million Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWA)
- 40.3 million internally displaced people
- 2.8 million asylum-seekers

For more background and a related video, check out the accompanying press release. See also messages from the High Commissioner and the UN Secretary-General.

I will highlight additional WRD resources as the day progresses, so please check back! Also, don't forget to see what's happening during the Refugee Weeks in Australia and the UK.

Updates:

- Here's an analysis from the NRC of 2017 global displacement figures.
- The Free Movement blog has a post on the legal meaning of refugee; it is also making its guide, "Refugee Law in the UK: A Practical Guide," freely available this week. Instructions are provided in the blog post.
- IRIN has just posted "Seven must-read stories this World Refugee Day."
- Read an IDMC comment on "Today's returning refugees, tomorrow's IDPs" (reflection on UNHCR’s annual NGO consultations plus two recommendations to policymakers working on the global compact on refugees).
- From ECHO, a factsheet on forced displacement.
- Get the facts from the Kaldor Centre's five podcasts and policy briefs for Refugee Week.
- The European Parliamentary Research Service blog has posted "World Refugee Day: Making Child-Sensitive Asylum and Refugee Policy," with links to additional resources.
- A new report entitled "From Struggle to Resilience: The Economic Impact of Refugees in America" has been issued by New American Economy.
- In honor of WRD, ReliefWeb is highlighting its topic page on refugees and migration in Southeast Asia.
- Cross-posted on the Oxford Dept. of International Development and OUP blogs is "Who thrives, who struggles? Exploring the determinants of economic success among refugees ."
- BioMed Central, the open access publisher, has a health-related post on its blog to commemorate WRD.
- On one of the Brooking's blogs, read "Unpacking the numbers on global refugees."
- The Refugee History blog is celebrating Refugee Week with a series of blog posts on "Britain’s refugee history and contemporary culture."
- From the U.S. State Dept., a graphic for WRD showing "Refugees’ Countries of Origin and Destination."
- Posted on The Conversation: "Refugee or migrant? Sometimes the line is blurred."
- Oxford University shared a WRD story on Medium that highlights the refugee work of various Oxford students & staff.
- From OAS: Declaración conjunta de la CIDH y el ACNUR en ocasión del Día Mundial del Refugiado: 10 medidas para que los Estados de las Américas respondan a las crisis de refugiados.
- The World Bank's Dev4Peace Blog has two posts: "'Papers please?': The importance of refugees and other forcibly-displaced persons being able to prove identity" and "What’s in a number? Unpacking the 65 million-forced displacement crisis."
- Refugees International has also circulated a series of blog posts reflecting on WRD.
- Google has compiled a series of YouTube videos for WRD.
- From Devex: "What you missed reading UNHCR's global trends."
- UNHCR compiled two reading lists for WRD, one for adults and one for kids.

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.