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World Refugee Day (20 June 2003)
 The
purpose of World Refugee Day is to draw attention to the plight of
refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience, and renew
commitment to solving refugee problems. It is also an opportunity to
recognise the contribution which refugees make to the countries
which host them.
The theme of the third World Refugee Day are refugee
youth. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cares for
20 million refugees and other displaced persons, of whom
approximately 7 million are young people between the ages of 12 and 24. Not only do
refugee youth face the difficulties all refugees encounter but they
are also submitted to particular hardships because of their young
age and specific vulnerability. Separation, exploitation, abuse and
violence, exposure to AIDS/HIV, military recruitment, and access to
education are some of the dire challenges they have to meet. "Refugee youth
have the same wishes and dreams as children all over the world - to go
to school, to play games and sports, to be surrounded by friends and
family, to feel safe and secure, to have a home", according UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie.
Source: UNHCR
News
Global number of refugees dropped 14 percent in 2002 (20.06.2003)
World Refugee Day 2003 - message from High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud
Lubbers (20.06.2003)
World
U.K. dodges responsibilities towards refugees (18.06.2003)
Organisation of American States adopts resolution to protect refugees and internally displaced persons (13.06.2003)
UNHCR launches $103 million appeal to help refugees in West Bank and Gaza (6.06.2003)
World
Refugee Survey 2003: 4.3 million newly uprooted find post-September
11 world more hostile (29.05.2003)
Liberia's
child soldiers relive lost childhood in Sierra Leone (12.02.2003)
2002
proved 'mixed bag' for refugees (26.12.2002)
Secondary
education for refugees cannot be ignored, say experts (20.09.2002)
World Refugee Day
2002 - UNHCR pays special tribute to women(19.06.2002)
UNHCR releases 2001 global refugee statistics
(19.06.2002)
Useful links
Study Guide on
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
UNHCR
World
Refugee Day Materials (Australia for UNHCR)
International and regional documents on refugees and displaced persons:
- Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)
- Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967)
- Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees
- Guiding principles on Internal Displacement
- Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969)
(African Union, formerly Organisation of African Unity, OAU)
- Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (1984) (Organization of American States, OAS)
Selected learning materials
Study Guide on
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
A quick introduction in the rights of refugees, and ways to
protect them.
For advocates
Refugees in the UN System of Human Rights Protection (by Jacqueline Kacprzak, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights-Poland)
This lesson plan consists of exercises related to the problems faced by refugees. Focus is on the application of the Refugee Convention and the activities of the UNHCR.
For health professionals
Examining Asylum Seekers: A Health Professional's Guide to Medical and Psychological Evaluations of Torture (by Physicians for Human Rights)
This guide is designed specifically for medical or mental health professional seeking to develop knowledge and skills needed to conduct clinical evaluations of asylum seekers and assess physical or psychological evidence of torture and ill-treatment. Several sections of this guidebook are based on recent international guidelines for medical/legal documentation of torture.
For humanitarian workers
IASC Training Modules on Internally Displaced Persons (Norwegian Refugee Council/Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Comprehensive training package on internally displaced persons. This online training program consists of several modules which, used alone or together, discuss the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons guaranteed by international law. The following modules are currently available on-line: A Definition of Internally Displaced Persons; Legal Origins and International Obligations; Protection from Displacement; Return, Resettlement, and Reintegration; and Recipients as Resources: Community Based Programming.
For teachers
Refugee Children (UNHCR)
This unit of lessons has been designed to help young students to empathize with the plight of refugee children, to become aware that children from all over the world have similar needs.
Debate: America, Refugees and Asylum (Michael Hutchison)
This lesson plan accompanies the film Well-Founded Fear (108 minutes) which offers a view into the world of the immigration authorities in the United States who have to make decisions about whether or not they grant asylum and "reveal the dramatic real-life stage where human rights and American ideals collide with the nearly impossible task of trying to know the truth". The lesson plan is in debate format and addresses background of refugee problems and its international context, refugee law and its international context, and the interpretation of laws by immigration officials.
Opening the Door to Nonviolence. Peace Education Manual for Primary School Children (Maja Uzelac)
This comprehensive teacher manual was designed by the Croatian NGO Mali Korak ("Small Step"). The manual was used with children in schools and refugee camps in multiethnic settings, at the end of the Bosnian wars.
Refugee Roleplay (Amnesty International)
This lesson activity uses a roleplay where refugees and border officials express different points of view on the rights of refugees to increase students' knowledge about refugee rights.
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