20 June
World Refugee Day is held every year on 20 June. It is a special day when the world takes time to recognise the resilience of forcibly displaced people throughout the world.
Around the world more than 50 million people have fled their homes. Each day thousands more follow.
On 4 December 2000, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.
It was therefore decided that, as from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day (resolution 55/76). [Note: The OAU was replaced by the African Union on 9 July 2002.]
Source: United Nations Refugee Agency
