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Refugees
So often
the world sits idly by, watching ethnic conflicts flare
up, as if these were mere entertainment rather than human
beings whose lives are being destroyed. Shouldn't the existence
of even one single refugee be a cause for alarm throughout
the world?
-- Urkhan Alakbarov
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World
Refugee Day is an important opportunity to remind
us about the ongoing plight of millions of refugees
around the world.
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
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"I urge you to celebrate
the extraordinary courage
and contributions of refugees past and present."
- Kofi
Annan, UN
Secretary-General
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The
challenge of ending displacement is inseparable from the
challenge of establishing and maintaining peace. When wars
end, farmers return to their fields; children return to
school; violence against women declines; trade and economic
activity resume; medical and other services become more
accessible, and the international focus changes from relief
to development and self-sufficiency. All this makes new
wars less likely. It is a virtuous cycle that deserves nurture
and support.
-- Kenneth H. Bacon
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"Displaced
societies are of value. Their issues are our issues."
-- Cynthia
Basinet
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"
At (UNHCR's) headquarters, I met extraordinary people,
men and women, especially from the emergency team,
who shared with me their passion, their dedication
and their commitment to this organisation and refugees.
They told me about the daily difficulties they have
to face and also the joy they felt when they managed
to save a person whose life was threatened."
-
Julien
Clerc
"Despite
very harsh living conditions and the trauma of what
they went through, they [Sudanese refugees] had a
lot of dignity"
- Julien
Clerc
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"Environmental
degradation, overpopulation, refugees, narcotics, terrorism,
world crime movements, and organized crime are worldwide
problems that don't stop at a nation's borders."
-- Warren Christopher
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While
every refugee's story is different and their anguish
personal, they all share a common thread of uncommon
courage – the courage not only to survive, but to
persevere and rebuild their shattered lives.
~
Antonio
Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees,
2005-
"When
food becomes
scarce, refugees often turn to desperate measures
to feed themselves and their families. We are particularly
worried about the health of the refugee population,
domestic violence and refugees resorting to illegal
employment or even to prostitution, just to put enough
food on the table."
~ Antonio
Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees,
2005-
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Thus,
on this World Refugee Day, let us take time to recognize
and draw inspiration from these ordinary people who have
shown such extraordinary courage – the world's millions
of refugees and displaced.~
Antonio
Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
There
are many challenges facing the international community today
but few, in my mind, are more pressing than those of finding
humanitarian solutions to refugee problems. We talk of regional
conflicts, of economic and social crises, of political instability,
of abuses of human rights, of racism, religious intolerance,
inequalities between rich and poor, hunger, over-population,
under-development and. I could go on and on. Each and every
one of these impediments to humanity’s pursuit of well-being
are also among the root causes of refugee problems.
-- Poul
Hartling, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 1978-1985
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A
lasting solution, the possibility to begin a new life,
is the only dignified solution for the refugee himself.
-- Poul
Hartling, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 1978-1985
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“They
are safe but they are not in their homes. They are city-less.
I think it's just a disaster for everyone."
-- Teri
Hatcher |
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(Click
on *
for
free 8.5 X 11 PDF to print)
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In
countries where people have to flee their homes
because of persecution and violence, political solutions
must be found, peace and tolerance restored, so
that refugees can return home. In my experience,
going home is the deepest wish of most refugees.
~ Angelina
Jolie
“Refugees
have done more for my heart and my spirit than I
can ever express in words.”
~ Angelina
Jolie
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"Refugees
have done more for my heart and my spirit than I can ever
express in words."
~ Angelina
Jolie
The
exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought
of in the mass ... What is implied in these nuances of
social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile
appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is
the very image of helplessness.
~ Mary McCarthy
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I
wish to call on you to join hands in the building
of a world in which less people will be forced to
flee, and in which refugees are protected until
they can safely return home one day.
-- Sadako
Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 1990-2000
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"Refugee
problems may often seem intractable but they are not insoluble.
In our experience there are two basic prerequisites for
solution: the political will of leaders to tackle the
causes and to settle for peace, and international determination
to push for peace and then to consolidate it. Consolidating
peace means helping societies emerging from war to reintegrate
refugees in safety and dignity, to rebuild their institutions
- including in the field of justice and human rights -
and to resume their economic development."
-- Sadako
Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 1990-2000
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We
are all part of the human family and we should be
about doing what all good families do - caring for
our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
- Dan
O'Neill,
Founder, Mercy Corps
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"There
are no refugees, no displaced persons here, ... They are
our guests and we treat them as such."
~ Mike Turner quotes
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To
all the survivors out there, I want them to know
that we are stronger and more resilient than we
ever knew. We survived, that should be enough but
it isn't. We must work hard to become whole again,
to fill our soul with love and inspiration, to live
the life that was intended for us before it was
disrupted by war and horrors, and help rebuild a
world that is better than the one we had just left.
- Loung
Ung
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'Refugees
are defined as persons who are outside their country and
cannot return owing to a well-founded fear of persecution
because of their race, religion, nationality, political
opinion or membership of a particular social group.'
~ United Nations, 1951
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Today,
I wish that the millions of displaced people would
be able to return with the necessary conditions
of safety and dignity, that people in exile could
return to their home-country as the intelligence
is needed, that cruelty, political killings, poverty
and hunger cease. I wish that our people recover
their dignity, truth is revealed and justice exists.
-- Alirio
Uribe Muñoz
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BetterWorld
Heroes Who Were Refugees
In
the future, human rights will be increasingly
a universal criterion for designing ethical systems.
--
Mahnaz Afkhami
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The
sad truth is that most evil is done by people who
never make up their minds to be either good or evil.
-- Hannah
Arendt
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Try
not to become a man of success, but rather try to
become a man of value.
--Albert
Einstein
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We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle,
or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected,
not to be victims of intolerance and racism.
-- Rigoberta
Menchu, Guatemala Nobel Peace Prize Winner,
1992
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We
believe that human rights transcend boundaries and
must prevail over state sovereignty.
-- José
Ramos-Horta
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Look
at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look
at them as the result of a series of historical choices
made by men and women, as facts of society made by
human beings, and not as natural or god-given, therefore
unchangeable, permanent, irreversible.
--Edward
Said |
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"I've
always been in danger, but I don't mind."
-- Sima
Samar
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When
I arrived in America, though I had left the war physically
far behind, in my mind, the soldiers were still chasing
to kill me, my stomach was always hungry, and my fear
and distrust kept me from opening up to new friendships.
I thought the war was over when I left Cambodia, but
I realize now that for survivors and all those involved,
the war is never over just because the guns have fallen
silent.
-
Loung
Ung |
REFUGEE
HERO PIX
Kofi
Annan | Cynthia Basinet
| Antonio Guterres
|Poul Hartling
Angelina Jolie | Sadako
Ogata | Dan O'Neill
| Loung Ung
Refugee
Day
- June 20
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