Showing Up on World Refugee Day

On World Refugee Day, we honor the strength and courage of more than 120 million people who have been forced to flee their homes to escape conflict or persecution.

More than 120 million—each with their own story, dreams, and passions. More than half are children, and many of them never find safety. Instead, they experience hunger, human trafficking, cruelty, and more violence.

The world has turned its back on refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. The human rights violations that force displacement are only increasing — and leaders, including our own here in the U.S., are slamming the door shut on people seeking safety.

Humanitarian crises around the world

In heartbreakingly massive numbers, families and individuals have made the most difficult decision of their lives: to flee home for safety and survival. Many evacuate only with what they can carry as they urgently try to keep their loved ones safe. Families are torn apart.  

• In Sudan, more than 11 million people have been forced to flee the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis. Civilians are bearing the full weight of three years of ongoing conflict and violence. People are being killed in their homes or shot while escaping. Children are starving.
• In Afghanistan, women and girls have endured unprecedented, systematic human rights violations, amounting to what many have described as gender apartheid. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, it has stripped women of nearly all rights — giving them no other option but to flee.
• In Syria, 7 in 10 people are without humanitarian aid, and millions are internally displaced. Decades of conflict and insecurity have led to scores of violations — we’ve even uncovered abuses against children.
• In Ukraine, families are being torn apart as Russia’s full-scale invasion continues, and recent escalations are driving more people to seek safety. Our research has found that Russian authorities have forcibly transferred and deported civilians from occupied areas of Ukraine in what amounts to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity.
• And in Venezuela, 23% of the population has fled the country — and an estimated 2,000 people are leaving every day. Years of gang violence, economic downturn, and shortages of essential services have driven people to embark on perilous journeys to safety. And yet the Trump administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and humanitarian programs for Venezuelans.

With a crisis of this scale, it’s especially heartbreaking to witness the moral and human rights failures of world leaders—particularly President Trump. 

Trump’s demonization of refugees

The Trump administration is targeting refugees and asylum seekers for detention and deportation and has shut down the refugee program and the right to seek asylum entirely. 

Families and individuals have been stranded in danger at the border, are being deported to the countries they fled, third countries they’ve never been, or held in inhumane detention centers. 

How cruel can the Trump administration be to turn away people who have endured deadly journeys through the Darién Gap or escaped persecution? Cruelty is, of course, the point. Criminalization and demonization of migrants and refugees is part of their authoritarian playbook. 

When governments like the United States deny the right to seek asylum and deport people without recognizing their legal right to seek safety back to the countries they fled (or countries they’ve never even been to), they embolden other governments to do the same.

While our leaders are actively pushing people into harm’s way, with your support, we’ve secured justice for asylum-seekers and freed people unjustly detained.

We can’t let this catastrophic humanitarian emergency get even worse. We must show up for the families who need us to be louder. 

To end this crisis, we must end the human rights violations that drive people to leave home in the first place and fight for protections for those on the move.

On this World Refugee Day, we need your support to help advocate for the needs of refugees and people seeking safety—and protect their human rights.