World Refugee Day 2018: Quotes And Lesser Known Facts

The United Nations General Assembly declared June 20 as World Refugee Day on Dec 4, 2000, to honor the strength and courage of refugees and increase public awareness about them.

"Now more than ever, we need to stand #WithRefugees" is the theme for World Refugee Day 2018, which will be marked in over 100 countries.

In 2015, there were 65.3 million people who were forcibly displaced from their homes around the world. This accounts to one in every 100 people around the planet and an estimated 50 percent of refugees are under the age of 18.

Of the world’s refugees, 86 percent are hosted by developing countries. The United States hosts just 1 percent of forcibly displaced people from across the globe, and around 4 percent of all refugees and asylum-seekers. Britain is home to just 0.6 percent of the world’s refugees, while Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia are the top countries for refugees, Refugee Council reported.

Kenya’s Dadaab hosts the world's largest refugee camp and has a population of 235,269 registered refugees and asylum seekers. The refugee complex consists of four camps, with the first being established in 1991. Around 130,000 refugees arrived in the complex in 2011, fleeing drought and famine in southern Somalia, UN Refugee Agency reported.

In 2017, Myanmar drove 693,000 Rohingya refugees across the border into Bangladesh. Myanmar government claimed they were illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and denied them citizenship. Many of them died making the journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh, Sky news reported.

In 2016, the first ever refugee team competed in Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The team consisted of young men and women who fled their countries in search of protection and among them were two swimmers, two judokas, a marathoner and five medium-distance runners.

Here are some quotes about refugees from Bustle and Fresh Quotes -

1."Refugees didn’t just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they’d put enough time and distance between them and their misery to wake to a better day” — "When the moon is low" by Nadia Hashimi

2. “In the midst of migrants in search of a better life there are people in need of protection: refugees and asylum-seekers, women and children victims of trafficking…Many move simply to avoid dying of hunger. When leaving is not an option but a necessity, this is more than poverty.” — Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN

3."The choice is not between the current crisis and blissful isolation. The choice is between the current crisis and an orderly, managed system of mass migration. You can have one or the other. There is no easy middle ground." — "The new odyssey" by Patrick Kingsley

4. "The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass ... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness." — author Mary McCarthy

5. “In countries where people have to flee their homes because of persecution and violence, political solutions must be found, peace and tolerance restored, so that refugees can return home. In my experience, going home is the deepest wish of most refugees.” — actress Angelina Jolie