20 June: World Refugee Day

• 22 Jun 2022

• World Refugee Day is observed on 20th June to build empathy and understanding for the plight of refugees and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.

• The theme for this year’s observation of the Day is “Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety”.
  • Whoever they are, people forced to flee should be treated with dignity. Anyone can seek protection, regardless of who they are or what they believe. It is non-negotiable: seeking safety is a human right.
  • Wherever they come from, people forced to flee should be welcomed. Refugees come from all over the globe. To get out of harm’s way, they might take a plane, a boat, or travel on foot. What remains universal is the right to seek safety.
  • Whenever people are forced to flee, they have a right to be protected. Whatever the threat – war, violence, persecution – everyone deserves protection.
  • Everyone has a right to be safe.
• The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect refugees around the world.

Refugee in India

• India has nearly 300,000 people categorised as refugees.
• But India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention or the 1967 Protocol. Nor does India have a refugee policy or a refugee law of its own.
• The closest India has come to a refugee policy in recent years is the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, which discriminates between refugees on the basis of religion in offering them Indian citizenship.