World Refugee Day 2010

"On this, World Refugee Day, I ask you to help us help refugees find a place to call home."

The theme of this year's World Refugee Day on June 20 is "HOME" in recognition of the plight of more than 40 million uprooted people around the world. Around 10 million of them are refugees of special concern to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Just five years ago, more than a million refugees were able to return voluntarily to their homes. Today, however, conflicts the world over have grown more resilient. In consequence, only a quarter as many refugees were able to return home last year.

Manpower, in partnership with the UNHCR, is committed to helping foster self reliance for refugees. On Friday, June 18th, David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs, will speak at a special awareness day at the Fairmont Hotel, Monaco, where he will discuss the indispensable alliance of public/private partnerships to effectively meet the needs of refugees. Recognizing that the communities hosting refugees are often themselves deprived of resources, more and more of our response will need to be community-based.

WHAT DOES HOME MEAN TO A REFUGEE?

• Resettlement can mean starting over somewhere completely new – a new home, a new country, a new land, a new life.
• Local integration – whereby refugees are able to put down roots in the country of asylum. A chance to look at those people who are putting roots down and trying to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.
• Returnees / voluntary repatriation to the country of origin – time to go home. It's when conditions that caused them to flee have been reversed and the situation has improved sufficiently for them to regain their homes.
• Stateless people – denied a country to call home.
• Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) – forced to flee their homes to escape persecution, war or natural disasters. Millions of refugees and IDPs have been forced to give up their homes and livelihoods and for the time being home for them is a refugee camp or a room in a new city which brings its own set of hardships.
• Children – every child has the right to a safe place to call home. Of the millions people of concern to UNHCR, almost half are children. They include children who are refugees, asylum seekers and stateless as well as returnees and internally displaced children assisted and protected by UNHCR. The refugee agency is dedicated to addressing the needs of all children of its concern to ensure they have a safe place to call home.