On June 20 every year, the world commemorates the strength, courage and resilience of millions of refugees. 

World Refugee Day was first marked in 2001. Tens of thousands of people around the world take time to recognise and applaud the contribution of those forced to flee. Nearly 65 million people are displaced worldwide today and each day thousands more flee their homes. The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in over 100 countries, involving government officials, non-government organisation, aid workers, celebrities and civilians.

This year, as usual, Canterbury Refugee Council celebrated the World Refugee Day with support and participation of Hagley College and its students. More than 100 participants were at the event, which commenced by listening and watching a video of the UN refugee Chief’s best wishes for Ramadan. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, expressed his warmest wishes to all observing the holy month of Ramadan. Representatives from refugee communities also shared their journeys to New Zealand. The participants at the event also join the #WithRefugee petition to send a message to UN Headquarters to address large movements of refugees and migrants on 19 September 2016. The petition asks governments to act with solidarity and shared responsibility, in particular to:

• Ensure every refugee child gets an education
  
• Ensure every refugee family has somewhere safe to live
  
• Ensure every refugee can work or learn new skills to make a positive contribution to their community
  

As of today more than 725,000 people in the world have pledged their support to the petition. They stand together #WithRefugees. Would you like to stand with us? Please follow the link http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/