World Refugee Day 2024

Two women from different cultural backgrounds hug and connect with each other

World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on 20 June. This international day was designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe, shine a light on their plight, and work together to find long-term solutions to displacement.

This World Refugee Day let’s go beyond divisive labels and recognize our shared humanity. Refugees aren’t feared “strangers” – they’re human beings, just like everyone else.

As global challenges increase, so does the urgency to overcome fear, reject harmful attitudes, and foster openness, understanding, and connections.

By recognizing our shared humanity, we can break down barriers, foster transformative relationships, and facilitate hospitality towards refugees. Together, we can create safe and shared spaces of belonging in our communities, where a “stranger” can become a friend.

Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.
POPE FRANCIS, FRATELLI TUTTI