For the first time, the IRC has sponsored a boy's soccer team in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp. The team reached the semifinal round of the Zaatari World Cup tournament. This is their story.

International Rescue Committee president, David Miliband, witnesses first­hand the refugee crisis on the Greek island of Lesbos where up to 3,000 refugees are arriving daily. “Lesbos is the eye of the storm for the European refugee crisis,” he said. “And the IRC is the leading aid agency  providing the most basic welcome.”

Divin was one of the last refugees to arrive in Boise, Idaho before a Trump Administration executive order barred refugees from entering the U.S. It was two years before his wife and young son could join him. Now they are welcoming the remaining members of their family, who had been stranded in a refugee camp in Burundi for 15 years.

It takes great courage to open your heart and share your experience. That’s why this World Refugee Day (June 20), we are celebrating refugee artists who remind us that refugees are courageous. Muyambo Marcel Chishimba is a Congolese refugee resettled by the International Rescue Committee in Elizabeth, New Jersey. As a young boy, he was taught to paint by his uncle, acclaimed Congolese artist Kabemba Albert Stounas.

Imagine being a refugee in a tented settlement during a winter storm. This is the reality for thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. 

Eight months since borders closed across the Balkan route, leaving tens of thousands stranded across Europe, refugees have no choice but to live in conditions that are not ready for winter: unheated tents, warehouses, and unfinished or abandoned buildings. These photos by an IRC partner in Serbia show young Afghans huddling together for warmth in a disused warehouse in Belgrade.

Thousands of refugees fleeing Syria and other conflict­-ridden countries are continuing to risk a dangerous sea journey to the Greek island of Lesbos in small boats, even as cold weather approaches.

From art to policies, traditions to dreams, refugees are shaping the future in ordinary—and extraordinary—ways. This World Refugee Day, test your knowledge and learn more about the incredible ways refugees shape the world around us.

Humans can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. But how long can we survive without a safe place to call home? Join Rashida Jones as she visits Syrian refugees in limbo in Lebanon in the International Rescue Committee's virtual reality experience (scroll down to see the VR embedded in the linked article).