World Refugee Day
Today, June 20, is World Refugee Day, dedicated by the United Nations every year to highlight the plight of refugees worldwide and commemorate their strength, courage and perseverance.
Providing aid and support for refugees has been at the forefront of Islamic Help’s work over the years.
Our teams around the world have been delivering - and continue to deliver - emergency and long term programmes to alleviate conditions for those forced to flee their homes due to conflict or natural disaster.
According to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, there are more than 21 million refugees globally, of which more than half are under the age of 18 – the highest number of child refugees since the Second World War.
The civil war in Syria has caused the greatest humanitarian crisis of this century, with more than 5.6 million refugees. Turkey is hosting 3 million while Lebanon has opened its doors to just under 1 million and Jordan has 666,000 registered Syrian refugees.
Another crisis zone is Bangladesh, which has seen more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims enter the country as they seek refuge from persecution in their native Myanmar (Burma).
Since our registration as a UK charity and international NGO in 2003, Islamic Help has been at the forefront of delivering aid and support to refugees affected by man-made and natural disasters.
Examples of our major projects in recent years have included:
- aid for more than 500,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey since the start of the Syria crisis
- set up our Birth Clinic in Jordan to provide medical care and assistance for pregnant Syrian refugees and their new-borns
- emergency and long term aid for more than 450,000 Rohingya refugees every month in Bangladesh
- established a refugee camp in Cameroon for more than 1,500 people who have fled the conflict in the Central African Republic.
Islamic Help has only been able to alleviate the suffering of refugees worldwide with the support of our generous donors. We intend to continue that commitment. Support us in helping refugees. Donate today.