They say June 20 is World Refugee Day which was established on Dec. 4, 2000. Before that it was called African Refugee Day.
There are said to be 42,000,000 refugees around the world. Among them 31,700,000 are supported by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Breakdowns are North America & Caribbean : 578,480, South America: 3,571,610, Europe: 4,031,160, Africa: 10,619,160, Asia & Middle East: 12,922,300 as of the end of 2007.
UNHCR is established on Dec. 14, 1950, and its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland. There are about 6,300 staff working in 120 countries. Among UN agencies, UNHCR is rather well-known among Japanese people because Japanese Ms. Sadako Ogata (緒方貞子) had served as the High Commissioner from 1990 to 2000.
Angelina Jolie is one of the Goodwill ambassadors of UNHCR, and she is very active helping refugees around the world.
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