World Refugee Day is marked each year on June 20 to honour the courage and resilience of families forced to flee war, violence or persecution.
This year, the Department of Home Affairs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will commemorate World Refugee Day in eThekwini Municipality to promote social cohesion, tolerance and peaceful co-existence among refugees, asylum-seekers and host communities.
World Refugee Day celebrations kicked off yesterday with build-up events at Inanda J L Dube Stadium with a Fun Run/Walk as well as friendly football matches involving refugees, asylum-seekers and the local community.
Tomorrow the Department of Home Affairs and UNHCR will organise structured community dialogues between refugees and the host community aimed at increasing knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of refugees, promoting better understanding, social tolerance and mutual trust, as well as respect for cultural diversity.
Community discussions will be followed by cultural entertainment as well as World Refugee Day remarks by refugees, provincial authorities, UNHCR and the Department of Home Affairs.
South Africa is currently hosting 91043 refugees and 218299 asylum-seekers mainly from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Burundi and Zimbabwe (as of December 31, 2016).
The Global theme for World Refugee Day is “We stand together #WithRefugees”.
In 2016, UNHCR launched the #WithRefugees campaign and petition to channel public solidarity for people forced to flee. Specifically, the petition aims to ensure all refugee children get an education; all refugee families have somewhere safe to live; and every refugee gets an opportunity to work or learn new skills to support their families. The campaign will run until the global compact for refugees is adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018 and will serve to articulate public support for the commitments it contains.
Sign the #WithRefugees petition at www.withrefugees.org
* Mokgola is the Home Affairs Department spokesperson and Aikomus is the UNHCR’s Senior Regional External Relations Officer and spokesperson for the Southern Africa region.