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“Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings …”
(Psalm 17:8 NRSV)
Background
June 20 is World Refugee Day, as it was first designated by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2000, and was first observed in 2001. The theme for this year’s celebration will be “To Feel at Home,” which hopes to highlight the lives of people who have been forced to leave their homes. The 1951 Refugee Convention describes refugees as “people who are outside their country of nationality or habitual residence, and have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) notes that:
- For the first time in five years, the global refugee population — UNHCR’s "core constituency" — increased, from 8.7 million to 9.9 million, principally because of the growth of the Iraqi refugee population in neighboring countries to an estimated 1.2 million (a number that had climbed to well over 2 million by September 2007).
- In addition to Iraq, in 2006 there were significant new outflows of refugees from the Central African Republic [31,000], Chad [20,000], Sri Lanka [16,600], Sudan [14,400] and Somalia [13,600].
- Afghanistan remained the top refugee-producing country, with 2.1 million Afghan refugees still spread over more than 70 asylum countries (20 percent of the entire global refugee population).
Source: Protecting Refugees & the Role of the UNHCR.
Women and Children
Women and their children are particularly vulnerable to the harsh, uncertain and sometimes violent conditions of fleeing from their country to another for safety. The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children also reports that:
- Four out of five of the world’s 35 million refugees are women, children and young people.
- Children and young people make up approximately 50 percent of all refugees. Women and adolescent girls in refugee settings are especially vulnerable to exploitation, rape and abuse.
- Children and young people often miss out on years of education. They are the targets of abuse, military recruitment and abduction.
- Women, children and young people who flee persecution and human rights abuses by seeking asylum in the United States are often imprisoned, subjected to inhumane conditions and denied access to legal representation.
Source: Women's Commission
What You Can Do
Pray for the security, health and well being of persons seeking refuge all over the world, and especially for women, and the children they care for as they move from place to place without protection.
Explore and utilize a flier and worship resources from Church World Service in your congregation.
Learn more about the more than 1 million refugees from the war in Iraq by visiting the International Rescue Committee’s Web site.
Sign up for email alerts and newsletters from entities, such as Refugees International, that serve refugees and work to support legislative and international efforts to alleviate suffering and address the root causes of displacement.
Explore what is being done in your community to respond to the needs of refugees. Volunteer your time or support these programs with your financial resources.
Form relationships with refugee persons to learn more directly of their experiences and let this knowledge inform your prayer, worship life and mission work.
Consider the stories of refugees in the Bible and reflect on what God may have to say about the situation of refugees today.
We are not responsible for any content provided on linked websites. They are provided for information purposes only.
For more information on how to be “…doers of the word”
(James 1:22a) please contact:
Tiffany B. Gonzales
Office of Women’s Advocacy, Intern |
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