World Refugee Day

(June 20, 2009) Every year on June 20 the world honours the courage, resilience and strength of refugees. On this seventh anniversary of the United Nations designated World Refugee Day, thousands of organisations in hundreds of countries will come together to focus global attention not only on the plight of refugees and the causes of their exile, but also on their determination and will to survive and on the contributions they make to their host communities. World Refugee Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world. On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The Caritas aid agency stated in a message sent for World Refugee Day on Saturday said that there is a lack of protection for women and girls in conflict zones, and is calling on governments and international organizations to act against these injustices. It highlighted the plight of female refugees who are often targets of violence in war and noted a "collective failure" to protect women and girls from rape and other forms of exploitation. Martina Liebsch, coordinator of the migration and trafficking advocacy team, stated: "Humiliating women through violence and abuse is a common feature in armed conflicts around the world today.” She called for governments and international organizations to "address this failure by improving protection, medical treatment, counselling and means for rehabilitation and compensation."