World Refugee Day commemorated

Islamabad

To highlight the issues faced by a large number of refugees forced to leave their homes, the world commemorated World Refugee Day on Monday. 

According to latest statistics, the number of people displaced worldwide has hit a new record with 65.3 million forced from their homes as of the end of 2015. 

This year the world leaders have decided to file `With Refugees’ petition on June 20 to send a message to governments that they must work together and do their fair share for refugees. The petition will be delivered to UN headquarters in New York ahead of the UN High Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants. The petition asks governments to ensure every refugee child gets an education, confirm that every refugee family has somewhere safe to live and safeguard every refugee can work or learn new skills to make a positive contribution to their community.

World Refugee Day has been marked on June 20, ever since the UN General Assembly, on December 4, 2000, adopted resolution 55/76  where it noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide 

Like other parts of the world, various events would be organized to commemorate the day and give voice to the grievances of refugees.

Different organizations have organized talk shows, walks, painting and photo exhibitions and discussion forum to unveil the cruel facts of such people who are suffering the plight of living homeless.

In this regard, SACH, a non-government organisation arranged a focus group discussion in Afghan community in Nothiya, Peshawar.

The focus of the activity was Gender Based Violence (GBV) among Refugees in Pakistan. The purpose of this discussion is to use the social dynamics of the group, with the help of a moderator/ facilitator, to stimulate participants to reveal underlying opinions, attitudes, and reasons for GBV. 

14-16 registered Afghan females aged 18 to 35 participated in the discussion. All the participants shared their day to day problems and routine violence faced by Afghan women. They also discussed their traditions and customary practices that lead to GBV.

Representative from United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) highlighted the importance of commemorating the day and shared her valuable comments about the theme of World Refugee Day ‘We stand together With Refugees’.

At the end of the discussion, coping mechanism was discussed and a few protection cases were identified. Furthermore, separate counselling sessions were conducted with females that were in need of psychosocial support.