Pressured to leave Pakistan, more than 600,000 refugees have already repatriated to Afghanistan, still in the grip of violence and poverty. Meet some of the returning Afghans the IRC is assisting in Nangarhar province—where the majority of returnees are arriving, and moving onwards to urban areas like Kabul.

More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact.

"If the rescue boats hadn't found us, we all would have drowned," recalls Mohammed Omadi. Mohammed and his family, from Afghanistan, came face-to-face with death when forced to cross the sea to Greece to seek refuge in a safe country. Their cash, passports and luggage disappeared in the waves. Cash relief provides emergency financial assistance for families like the Omadis that have lost everything.

Up to 300,000 refugees and migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and other war-torn lands have fled to Europe this year, and most have landed on Greece’s eastern islands. Aid workers with the International Rescue Committee have been providing critical aid and services on Lesbos which has struggled to cope with the massive influx of up to 3,000 refugees arriving daily.

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.

Eight-year-old twin sisters from Afghanistan recount harrowing tales of the fearful journey they endured as they made their escape to Europe. They are just two of the more than one million refugees from countries experiencing relentless conflicts who have fled to Europe for safety and a new start. "The smugglers had sticks and they beat us, and wouldn’t let us stop even for five minutes," one of the girls said.