<span style="color: #222222;">World Refugee Day being observed today</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> <br />''The United Nations designated the day to celebrate the strength and courage of people forced to flee their homes and countries to escape conflict or persecution.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">World Refugee Day is also a day to build empathy and understanding of their plight and to recognize their efforts in rebuilding their lives. The day recognises the rights, needs and dreams of refugees.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A person forced to flee his or her country following persecution, war or violence is a refugee.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to the United Nations, people who fled their homes and countries due to a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion is a refugee. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">At the end of 2020, a mammoth 82.4 million remained forcibly displaced worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. According to the UN, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the rate of displacement, and thus the number of people seeking asylum remains high.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In 2020 alone, asylum-seekers submitted 1.1 million new claims, the UN said.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">More than 6 million refugees live in camps worldwide, as per the United Nations records.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">These camps are temporary facilities offering immediate protection and assistance to people forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The camps are not a permanent solution, but they give shelter to refugees and help them meet their basic needs – such as food, water, shelter, medical treatment and other basic services in times of emergencies.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Turkey currently hosts 3.6 million refugees, the largest by a single country, followed by Columbia that shelters 1.8 million people, including people who fled Venezuela in the last few years, according to the latest United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report on forced displacement.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The UNHCR report said, over two-thirds of the refugees worldwide come from just five countries, from Syria 6.6 million, Venezuela 3.7 million, South Sudan, 2.3 million and from Myanmar, 1.0 million.</span><br />''  <br />