Each year on June 20, World Refugee Day, the world commemorates the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees. At the IRC in Atlanta, we also take this time to celebrate the vast contributions that refugees have made to our state for 40 years and to advocate for refugees, asylum seekers and the restoration of the refugee resettlement program.
Clarkston World Refugee Day Celebration, June 15, 2019.
Photo: Joseph McBrayer
Just before World Refugee Day, the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency released its annual Global Trends report, announcing that there are now 70.8 million refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world—an unprecedented high.
The 70.8 million displaced people includes:
- 25.9 million refugees
- 41.3 million people displaced within their own borders
- 3.5 million asylum seekers
- About half are children
Despite record numbers of displaced individuals, the number of resettlement slots available around the world were halved between 2016 and 2017. The IRC in Atlanta will welcome more than 500 refugees to Georgia in 2019, but this is less than half of the more than 1,000 individuals resettled in 2016.
It's more important than ever that we stand with refugees and keep our doors open to people in urgent need of safety and protection. On World Refugee Day, we joined advocates across the nation and raised our voices in support of refugees, the life-saving U.S. Refugee Program and federal policies that keep families together. Our three asks for Congress:
- Hold the administration accountable to meeting this year’s 30,000 refugee admissions goal and urge them to commit to resettling 95,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2020.
- Co-sponsor the GRACE Act (S.1088 and H.R.2146), which would set a minimum refugee admissions goal at 95,000 (the historic average since 1980).
- Co-sponsor the NO BAN Act (S.1123 and H.R.2214), which would end the harmful refugee, Muslim, and asylum bans put in place by this administration and establish vital protections against future discriminatory bans.
It’s not too late to call and make these asks! Learn more.
To honor Georgia’s new American community, the IRC in Atlanta worked with Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies (CRSA) partners to host our annual World Refugee Day Celebration in Clarkston on Saturday, June 15. More than 200 people came out to enjoy incredible music and dance performances from community groups and shop locally from refugee and immigrant business owners. CRSA’s World Refugee Day Celebration was attended by federal, state, county, and local elected leaders who addressed the crowd and showed their support for new Americans, including Congressman Hank Johnson, State Senator Steve Henson and Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry. DeKalb County Commissioner Steve Bradshaw also presented a proclamation to honor World Refugee Day in DeKalb County which is home to more than 70% of Georgia’s newly-arriving refugees.
To learn more about the work of the IRC in Atlanta and for information on how you can get involved with the IRC as a donor or volunteer, please contact Senior Development Manager, Kalie Lasiter, at Kalie.Lasiter [at] Rescue.org or 678-636-8941.
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