World Refugee Day 2017, International Day Celebrating Refugees to be held June 20

WASHINGTON—World Refugee Day 2017 willtake place June 20^th with celebrations noting the contributions ofrefugees occurring locally, nationally and globally. The international day providesan opportunity to raise awareness about the global refugee situation and thesuccess of resettled refugees.  The worldis experiencing the largest forced migration crisis since World War II withmore than 65 million people forcibly displaced from their homes, including 21million refugees worldwide.

"World Refugee Day is a day where wehighlight the achievements of refugees. Refugees are like all people, unique children of God," said Bill Canny, ExecutiveDirector of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Migration andRefugee Services. "We hope to see this year's celebration of World Refugee Day creategreater awareness and appreciation on both the community and national level."

As part of the 2017 World RefugeeDay celebration, the USCCB will be hosting a World Refugee Day Kick – Off eventat the National Press Club on Monday, June 19^th, featuring Bishop MarioDorsonville of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC and Admiral Garry Hall SpecialAssistant to the President and Senior Director for International Organizationsand Alliances, ‎National Security Council. Additionally there will be twopanels, one which focuses on the domestic aspects of refugee resettlement andthe other which highlights the international protection needs of refugees.

This year will be the 17^thyear that the United Nations has officially recognized June 20^th asWorld Refugee Day.  Many nations aroundthe globe celebrated World Refugee Day prior to 2001, with one of the mostwidespread events being Africa Refugee Day, which had been celebrated on June20.

Educational materials and otherresources for World Refugee Day are available for download at https://justiceforimmigrants.org/take-action/world-refugee-day/.For more information on events in your area or to submit an event, emailUSCCB/MRS Communications Manager Mark Priceman (@email).

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops, USCCB, Bishop Joe Vazquez, Committee on Migration, refugees, migrants,immigrants, human trafficking, National Migration Week

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