Every act of welcome, inclusion, and support brings us closer to a world where every person forced to flee can find not just refuge, but belonging, purpose, and hope.
Photo:AI-generated illustration by Sadek Ahmed

Becoming a refugee is never a choice. But how we respond is.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

2025 Theme: Solidarity with Refugees

World Refugee Day 2025 is a powerful call to action and empathy in a time of global uncertainty. With record numbers of people forcibly displaced and humanitarian aid under threat, this year’s theme—"Solidarity with Refugees"—urges us to move beyond words and take meaningful steps to support those forced to flee. Refugees seek not charity, but opportunity: a chance to rebuild their lives, contribute to their communities, and live with dignity.

This World Refugee Day is a moment to honor their courage and resilience, listen to their stories, and advocate for lasting solutions to displacement. It reminds us that welcoming refugees strengthens societies, fosters innovation, and builds communities where everyone belongs. Through collective action—from policy change and community engagement to sharing refugee voices—we affirm that refugees are not forgotten, not alone, and not without hope.

 

What does solidarity mean?

Centering refugee voices

Listen to and share the personal stories of refugees, recognizing their strength, courage, and multifaceted identities beyond displacement.

Building inclusive communities

Create welcoming environments where refugees can form connections, find opportunities, and contribute meaningfully.

Working together for peace and solutions

Uphold the right to seek safety, advocate for conflict resolution, and support long-term, sustainable futures for displaced populations.

Standing by those who stay and deliver

Support UN and its humanitarian workers who continue to serve in the toughest conditions, ensuring that life-saving aid reaches those in need.

Learn more about solidarity with refugees

Background

World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.

Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons:

Refugees

A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.

Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.

Internally Displaced Persons

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.

Stateless Persons

Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country.

Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.

Returnees

Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home.

UN Action

1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol

Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them. They are the only global legal instruments explicitly covering the most important aspects of a refugee’s life. According to their provisions, refugees deserve, as a minimum, the same standards of treatment enjoyed by other foreign nationals in a given country and, in many cases, the same treatment as nationals.

The 1951 Convention contains a number of rights and also highlights the obligations of refugees towards their host country. The cornerstone of the 1951 Convention is the principle of non-refoulement. According to this principle, a refugee should not be returned to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the security of the country, or having been convicted of a particularly serious crime, are considered a danger to the community.

The rights contained in the 1951 Convention include:

  • The right not to be expelled, except under certain, strictly defined conditions;
  • The right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State;
  • The right to work;
  • The right to housing;
  • The right to education;
  • The right to public relief and assistance;
  • The right to freedom of religion;
  • The right to access the courts;
  • The right to freedom of movement within the territory;
  • The right to be issued identity and travel documents.

Some basic rights, including the right to be protected from refoulement, apply to all refugees. A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain in the host country, which is based on the recognition that the longer they remain as refugees, the more rights they need.

How can you show solidarity with refugees?

Resources

Documents

UN System Websites

Other Resources

A volunteer life-guard helps a young girl out of the sea after the boat she used along with her family crashed on a rock off the island’s coast.

The world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. An unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home by conflict and persecution at the end of 2018. Among them are nearly 30 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. 

a UN meeting

Related Observances

 

an abstract illustration of people engaged in an event

International days and weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool. We also mark other UN observances.