~~ World Refugee Day 2013 ~~

**YouthFul** · 27-06-2013, 05:59 PM

June 20, 2013 marked World Refugee Day, as the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, AntÃ³nio Guterres, visited Jordan to highlight the 1.6 million registered people who have fled the ongoing conflict in Syria. The UN refugee agency, which was set up in 1950 to aid those still displaced after World War II, reports that there are some 10.5 million refugees worldwideÛ”

A Palestinian refugee woman bathes her daughter inside her family house in a poverty-stricken quarter south of Gaza City on June 6.

A recently returned Afghan refugee child sleeps while being attended by a family member, after having recently arrived from Pakistan, to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) center on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 20 before returning to their home province after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year.

An Afghan refugee man, center, covers his face as he and others get caught in a sand storm at a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 11. Pakistan hosts over 1.6 million registered Afghans, the largest and most protracted refugee population in the world, according to the UN refugee agency

Palestinian refugee children play inside their family home in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on June 5.

Muslim children are seen at a refugee camp outside of Sittwe on May 16. MyanmarÃŒs Immigration Minister has expressed support for a controversial two-child limit on a Muslim minority group that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations call discriminatory and a violation of human rights

A Palestinian refugee boy eats a meal while standing at a fence with drying laundry on the ground of his family's home in the Bait Lahiya camp, northern Gaza Strip on June 18. According to recent Palestinian media reports Beit Lahiya and its surrounding border area are suffering from a severe shortage of all kinds of daily goods and life requirements. An increasing number of families reportedly were falling further into poverty, with the region's unemployment rate being over 30 per cent according to estimates dated from 2012.

Afghan refugee children collect items of use from a pile of garbage on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 4. Pakistan hosts over 1.6 million registered Afghans, the largest and most protracted refugee population in the world, according to the UN refugee agency.

An Afghan refugee prepares thread for carpet weaving at the Khorasan refugee camp near Peshawar on June 19, the eve of World Refugee Day. War and other crises drove one person from their home every 4.1 seconds in 2012, according to a report from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on June 19, pushing the number of people forcibly displaced to a two-decade high of 45.2 million

Myanmar demonstrators hold placards during a silent protest on World Refugee Day in New Delhi on June 20. The protestors requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to expedite the resettlement program for Burmese refugees.

An Afghan health worker, left, administers the polio vaccine to a child during a vaccination campaign at a refugee camp in Laghman province on June 9. Polio, once a worldwide scourge, is endemic in just three countries now; Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Palestinian children play on the coast line of the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, on June 20. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year.

Children play on a slide in a refugee camp on World Refugee Day in Benghazi on June 20

Afghan refugees wait to leave for Afghanistan, at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registration center in Chamkani, on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, on June 19. Under a UNHCR voluntary repatriation program started in March 2002, millions of Afghans have gone back home, but there are more than 1.7 million still residing in Pakistan, a majority of whom have lived in this neighboring country for decades.

Afghan refugee children, swim in muddy water created from a broken water pipe, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 17. Pakistan hosts over 1.6 million registered Afghans, the largest and most protracted refugee population in the world, according to the UN refugee agency.

yrian refugees take down their belongings, on the World Refugee Day, at Zaatari refugee camp, in Mafraq, Jordan, on June 20. UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres, and the Norwegian foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, along with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special envoy, actress Angelina Jolie, held a press conference at the camp to commemorate the World Refugee Day, and to urge the world to support refugees in Syria and around the world.

A Syrian refugee girl hangs laundry outside her makeshift house in Alman town, in the Shouf area in Mount Lebanon on World Refugee Day

An Afghan refugee family climbs onto a truck at a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camp in Kabul on June 20. Scarred by decades of war, social problems, poverty and insecurities, millions of Afghans still live as refugees mainly in neighboring Iran and Pakistan.