Some 110 million people have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. The war in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is but the latest in a long list of crises that has led to the record-breaking figure. "It's quite an indictment on the state of our world," Filippo Grandi, who leads the U.N. refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva ahead of the publication Wednesday of UNHCR's Global Trends Report for 2022. Also Read: Record 108.4 mln people forcibly displaced by end of  2022: UNHCR Last year alone, an additional 19 million people were forcibly displaced including more than 11 million who fled Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in what became the fastest and largest displacement of people since World War II. "We are constantly confronted with emergencies," Grandi said. Last year the agency recorded 35 emergencies, three to four times more than in previous years. "Very few make your headlines," Grandi added, arguing that the war in Sudan fell off most front pages after Western citizens were evacuated. Also Read: UN agencies warn of starvation risk in Sudan, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Mali, call for urgent aid Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Myanmar were also responsible for displacing more than 1 million people within each country in 2022. The majority of the displaced globally have sought refuge within their nation's borders. One-third of them - 35 million - have fled to other countries, making them refugees, according to the UNHCR report. Most refugees are hosted by low to middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, not rich countries in Europe or North America, Grandi said. Also Read: Sudan military ruler seeks removal of UN envoy in letter to UN chief, who is 'shocked' by the demand Turkey currently hosts the most refugees with 3.8 million people, mostly Syrians who fled the civil war, followed by Iran with 3.4 million refugees, mostly Afghans. But there are also 5.7 million Ukrainian refugees scattered across countries in Europe and beyond. The number of stateless people has also risen in 2022 to 4.4 million, according to UNHCR data, but this is believed to be an underestimate. Also Read:  Thousands of exhausted South Sudanese head home, fleeing brutal conflict Regarding asylum claims, the U.S. was the country to receive the most new applications in 2022 with 730,400 claims. It's also the nation with the largest backlog in its asylum system, Grandi said. "One of the things that needs to be done is reforming that asylum system so that it becomes more rapid, more efficient," he said. The United States, Spain and Canada recently announced plans to create asylum processing centers in Latin America with the goal of reducing the number of people who trek their way north to the Mexico-U.S. border. Also Read: UN: Sudan conflict displaces over 1.3 million, including some 320K to neighboring countries As the number of asylum-seekers grows, so have the challenges facing them. "We see pushbacks. We see tougher and tougher immigration or refugee admission rules. We see in many countries the criminalization of immigrants and refugees, blaming them for everything that has happened," Grandi said. Also Read: War in Ukraine, disasters left 71mn people internally displaced in 2022: Report Last week European leaders renewed financial promises to North African nations in the hopes of stemming migration across the Mediterranean while the British government insists on a so-far failed plan to ship asylum-seekers to Rwanda, something UNHCR is opposed to. But there were also some wins, Grandi said, pointing to what he described as a positive sign in the European Union's negotiations for a new migration and asylum pact, despite criticism from human rights groups. Also Read: Sudan's government declares UN envoy ‘persona non grata’ Grandi also celebrated the fact that the number of refugees resettled in 2022 doubled to 114,000 from the previous year. But he admitted this was "still a drop in the ocean."  

The U.N. refugee agency warned Tuesday of “further displacement” of people from Sudan after thousands streamed into neighboring Chad and South Sudan despite a tenuous cease-fire between the two warring Sudanese generals battling for control of the country. The fighting has plunged Sudan into chaos, pushing the already heavily aid-dependent African nation to the brink of collapse. Before the clashes, the U.N. estimated that a third of Sudan's population — or about 16 million people — needed assistance, a figure that is likely to increase . Since the outbreak of the fighting on April 15, at least 20,000 Sudanese have fled into Chad and some 4,000 South Sudanese refugees — who had been living in Sudan — have returned to their home country, UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado said Tuesday. Also Read: Fitful start to new 3-day truce in Sudan; airlifts continue The figures could rise, she cautioned. Sarrado did not have figures for the five other countries neighboring Sudan, but UNHCR has cited unspecified numbers of those fleeing Sudan arriving in Egypt. “The fighting looks set to trigger further displacement both within and outside the country,” she said, speaking at a U.N. briefing in Geneva. The UNHCR was scaling up its operations, she said, even as foreign governments have raced to evacuate their embassy staff and citizens from Sudan. Many Sudanese have desperately sought ways to escape the chaos, fearing late their all-out battle for power once evacuations are completed. Also Read: Why Sudan's conflict matters to the rest of the world Several previous cease-fires have failed, although intermittent lulls during the weekend’s major Muslim holiday allowed for dramatic evacuations of hundreds of diplomats, aid workers and other foreigners by air and land. More than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees live in Sudan, a quarter of them in the capital of Khartoum, where they are directly affected by the fighting. Overall, Sudan hosts 1.1 million refugees, according to the UNHCR. There are also more than 3 million internally displaced persons, mostly in Darfur, a region mired in decades-long conflict, it said. Along with the refugees, the U.N. migration agency said there are 300,000 registered migrants, as well as tens of thousands of unregistered migrants in the country. Marie-Helene Verney, the UNHCR's chief in South Sudan, said from its capital of Juba that “the planning figure that we have for the most likely scenario is 125,000 returns of South Sudanese refugees into South Sudan, and 45,000 refugees,” Sudanese fleeing the fighting. Also Read: Which countries are evacuating citizens from Sudan? The U.N. Population Fund has said that the fighting threatens tens of thousands of pregnant women, including 24,000 women expected to give birth in the coming weeks. For 219,000 pregnant women across the country it is too dangerous to venture outside their homes to seek urgent care in hospitals and clinics amid the clashes, the agency said. Dozens of hospitals have shuttered in Khartoum and elsewhere across the country due to the fighting, and dwindling medical and fuel supplies according to the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate. “If the violence does not stop, there is a danger that the health system will collapse,” the U.N. agency warned last Friday. The International Committee of the Red Cross welcomed the announced cease-fire as a “potential lifesaver for civilians” trapped in their homes in fighting-hit areas. “It’s clear that this ceasefire must be implemented up and down the chain of command and that it must hold for it to give a real respite to civilians suffering from the fighting,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa. He called on the international community to help find a “durable political solution to end the bloodshed.” Spokesman Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said it has been forced to “reduce our footprint” because of the fighting. and he pointed to “acute shortages of food, water, medicines and fuel and limited communications and electricity” and new reports of looting of humanitarian warehouses and aid stockpiles. “The humanitarian needs in Sudan were already at record levels before this recent eruption of fighting … some 15.8 million people — that’s about a third of the population — required humanitarian assistance,” he said. “This (fighting) coming on top of it, is, I would say, more than just a slap in the face. It’s more than a fist in the face of those people who were already in need,” Laerke added, echoing the calls for "the fighting to stop.” Other aid agencies, including the World Food Program, were forced to suspend or scale down its operations in Sudan following attacks on aid workers and humanitarian compounds and warehouses. At least five aid workers, three from the WFP, were killed since April 15. The WFP has said its offices and warehouses in Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur, were attacked and looted last week. An ICRC office in Nyala was also looted, and warehouses for the Sudanese Red Crescent in Khartoum were attacked last week by armed men who took several of their vehicles and trucks, the charity said. Arshad Malik with Save the Children Sudan urged the warring sides to ensure protection for humanitarian workers to allow resumption of aid flow in Sudan, which was “already going through its worst-ever humanitarian emergency” before fighting erupted. “Now we’re seeing more children than ever going hungry. About 12% of the country’s 22 million children are going without enough food,” he said.

Two Bangladesh projects are amongst six winners of the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA). A monograph that includes essays on issues raised by the Master Jury’s selections of the shortlist and the winners for the 2022 Award will be published by Architangle in October 2022, according to a message received from Geneva. The Urban River Spaces project in Jhenaidah created by Khondakar Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana, and the community spaces of the Rohingya Refugee Response program by architects Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Fatmi and Saad Ben Mostafa will share the US$1 million award with four other winning projects. Read: Bangladeshi projects shortlisted for Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2022

The number of people who had left Ukraine reached 1.45 million as Russia's war on Ukraine entered Day 10 Saturday, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN migration agency, citing figures from government ministries in countries where they arrived, said 787,300 of them went to Poland. Around 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia. Nationals of 138 countries crossed Ukraine's borders into neighbouring nations, the IOM said. Also read: Ukraine wants special tribunal to judge Putin The military offensive in Ukraine has destroyed civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties and forced people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance. In the first week, more than 1 million refugees from Ukraine crossed borders into neighbouring countries, and many more are on the move both inside and outside the country. As the situation continues to unfold, an estimated 4 million people may flee the country, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR)  In light of the emergency and paramount humanitarian needs of refugees from Ukraine, an inter-agency regional refugee response is being carried out, in support of refugee-hosting countries’ efforts, it says. The regional refugee response plan brings together the UN, NGO and other relevant partners and primarily focuses on supporting the host country governments to ensure safe access to the territory for refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine, in line with international standards. It also focuses on the provision of critical protection services and humanitarian assistance, while displacement dynamics and needs continue to grow exponentially. Also read: Refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege Ukraine ports

The number of people sent fleeing Ukraine by Russia’s invasion topped 1 million on Wednesday, the swiftest refugee exodus this century, the United Nations said, as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the country’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, and laid siege to two strategic seaports. The tally from the U.N. refugee agency released to The Associated Press amounts to more than 2 percent of Ukraine’s population being forced out of the country in less than a week. The mass evacuation could be seen in Kharkiv, where residents desperate to get away from falling shells and bombs crowded the city’s train station and tried to press onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed. In a videotaped address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up the resistance. He vowed that the invaders would have “not one quiet moment” and described Russian soldiers as “confused children who have been used.” Moscow’s isolation deepened when most of the world lined up against it at the United Nations to demand it withdraw from Ukraine. And the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible war crimes. With fighting going on on multiple fronts across the country, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Mariupol, a large city on the Azov Sea, was encircled by Russian forces, while the status of another vital port, Kherson, a Black Sea shipbuilding city of 280,000, remained unclear. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces claimed to have taken complete control of Kherson, which would make it the biggest city to fall yet in the invasion. But a senior U.S. defense official disputed that. READ: As Russia batters Ukraine, both sides ready for more talks “Our view is that Kherson is very much a contested city,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Zelenskyy’s office told the AP that it could not comment on the situation in Kherson while the fighting was still going on. But the mayor of Kherson, Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian soldiers were in the city and came to the city administration building. He said he asked them not to shoot civilians and to allow crews to gather up the bodies from the streets. “I simply asked them not to shoot at people,” he said in a statement. “We don’t have any Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to LIVE.” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the attacks there had been relentless. READ: Russia-Ukraine conflict: BGMEA sees challenges for trade “We cannot even take the wounded from the streets, from houses and apartments today, since the shelling does not stop,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. Russia reported its military casualties for the first time since the invasion began last week, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine did not disclose its own military losses but said more than 2,000 civilians have died, a claim that could not be independently verified. In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Zelenskyy praised his country’s resistance. “We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” he said. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.” He said the fighting is taking a toll on the morale of Russian soldiers, who “go into grocery stores and try to find something to eat.” “These are not warriors of a superpower,” he said. “These are confused children who have been used.” Meanwhile, the senior U.S. defense official said an immense column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv and had made no real progress in the last couple of days. The convoy, which earlier in the week had seemed poised to launch an assault on the capital, has been plagued with fuel and food shortages, the official said. Western officials warn that Russia’s far stronger military is likely to adapt quickly. On the far edges of Kyiv, volunteers well into their 60s manned a checkpoint to try to block the Russian advance. “In my old age, I had to take up arms,” said Andrey Goncharuk, 68. He said the fighters needed more weapons, but “we’ll kill the enemy and take their weapons.” Around Ukraine, others crowded into train stations, carrying children wrapped in blankets and dragging wheeled suitcases into new lives as refugees. In an email, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams told the AP that the latest data indicates the refugee count surpassed 1 million as of midnight in central Europe, based on figures collected by national authorities. Shabia Mantoo, another spokesperson for the agency, said Wednesday that “at this rate” the exodus from Ukraine could make it the source of “the biggest refugee crisis this century.” A large explosion shook central Kyiv on Wednesday night in what the president’s office said was a missile strike near the capital city’s southern railway station. There was no immediate word on any deaths or injuries. Thousands of Ukrainians have been fleeing the city through the sprawling railway complex. Russian forces pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s biggest city after Kyiv, with about 1.5 million people, in another round of aerial attacks that shattered buildings and lit up the skyline with flames. At least 21 people were killed and 112 injured over the past day, said Oleg Sinehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration. Several Russian planes were shot down over Kharkiv, according to Oleksiy Arestovich, a top adviser to Zelenskyy. “Kharkiv today is the Stalingrad of the 21st century,” Arestovich said, invoking what is considered one of the most heroic episodes in Russian history, the five-month defense of the city from the Nazis during World War II. From his basement bunker, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov told the BBC: “The city is united and we shall stand fast.” Russian attacks, many with missiles, blew the roof off Kharkiv’s five-story regional police building and set the top floor on fire, and also hit the intelligence headquarters and a university building, according to officials and videos and photos released by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Officials said residential buildings were also hit, but gave no details. The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned that the fighting poses a danger to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors. Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency noted that the war is “the first time a military conflict is happening amid the facilities of a large, established nuclear power program,” and he said he is “gravely concerned.” Russia already has seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant, the scene in 1986 of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. In New York, the U.N. General Assembly voted to demand that Russia stop its offensive and immediately withdraw all troops, with world powers and tiny island states alike condemning Moscow. The vote was 141 to 5, with 35 abstentions. Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding but can reflect and influence world opinion. The vote came after the 193-member assembly convened its first emergency session since 1997. The only countries to vote with Russia were Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea. Cuba spoke in Moscow’s defense but ultimately abstained. Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Russian forces “have come to the Ukrainian soil, not only to kill some of us ... they have come to deprive Ukraine of the very right to exist.” He added: ”The crimes are so barbaric that it is difficult to comprehend.” Russia ramped up its rhetoric. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reminded the world about the country’s vast nuclear arsenal when he said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that “a third world war could only be nuclear.” In the northern city of Chernihiv, two cruise missiles hit a hospital, according to the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency, which quoted the health administration chief, Serhiy Pivovar, as saying authorities were working to determine the casualty toll.

Fighting in embattled Ukraine has so far pushed more than 500,000 people across the country's borders, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). "This is a massive outflow that we're witnessing and has all just happened in the space of five days. So this is a fast-growing refugee emergency," spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said Monday. Ukrainians have been fleeing their homeland since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the "special military operation" on February 24, following weeks of troops and weapons buildups near the borders. The majority, mostly women and children, has headed west to Poland. Others are entering Hungary, Moldova, Romania and beyond. At the borders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and non-European Union (EU) member Moldova, long lines of cars and buses were backed up at checkpoints Monday. Others crossed the borders on foot. READ: Russia facing sports isolation over invasion of Ukraine Several hundred refugees were gathered at a temporary reception centre in the Hungarian border village of Beregsurany, where they awaited transportation to transit hubs that could take them further into Hungary and beyond. Many of the refugees at the reception centre in Beregsurany, as in other border areas in Eastern Europe, are from India, Nigeria and other African countries, and were working or studying in Ukraine when the war broke out. Hungary has opened its borders to all refugees fleeing Ukraine, including third-country nationals that can prove Ukrainian residency. It has set up a "humanitarian corridor" to escort non-Ukrainian nationals from the border to airports in the city of Debrecen and the capital Budapest. The welcome that Hungary is now showing Ukrainians is very different from the unwelcoming stance they have had toward refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa in recent years. In Poland, the country that has reported the most arrivals, trains continued to bring refugees into the border town of Przemysl. Olga, a 36-year-old mother from Kyiv is among the refugees. She set off from the city by car Thursday, accompanied by her daughter, 8, and son, 2, along with a neighbour and her daughter. After three days on the road, they arrived at the Polish border town of Zosin. READ: Ukraine crisis: Many Bangladeshis prefer wait-and-watch over leaving yet "We fled as soon as the first bombs fell. It took us 12 hours just to get out of Kyiv," Olga told the UNHCR Saturday. Normally, the journey would have taken seven hours. Agency staff caught up with Olga when her car was in a line of thousands on the bridge over the River Bug, which marks the border between Ukraine and Poland. "We've been waiting here for 36 hours now," she said at the time, referring to the 14-kilometre queue. People arriving on foot can skip the long traffic line and enter Poland much quicker.  Ukrainian refugees are being registered by national authorities in the countries that have received them.  The UNHCR and its partners are on the ground at main border areas to support these efforts.  Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, has stressed that security and access for humanitarian action must be guaranteed. "The UNHCR is also working with governments in neighbouring countries, calling on them to keep borders open to those seeking safety and protection," he said.

Refugee admissions to the United States fell to a record low during the 2021 budget year, despite President Joe Biden's pledge to reverse the sharp cuts made by the Trump administration, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. A total of 11,445 refugees were allowed into the United States during the budget year that ended on Thursday, according to a person with access to the information who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the figure. That number does not include the tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the United States as American troops withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war there. Many of those Afghans were allowed into the country under a different legal status known as humanitarian parole, which is why they are not included in the refugee tally. Read: Libya’s migrant roundup reaches 4,000 amid major crackdown Still the number highlights Biden's challenges in reversing the restrictive refugee policies set by former President Donald Trump's administration, which targeted the program as part of a broader campaign to slash both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. The U.S. president determines the cap on refugee admissions each budget year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Biden didn't take office until almost four months after the last fiscal year began. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the number. The 11,445 refugee admissions total falls far below the nation’s cap of 62,500 for the 2021 budget year that Biden set in May. It's also below the record-low ceiling of 15,000 that Trump had initially set for the year. Biden initially indicated he would not override the 15,000-person cap, saying in an emergency determination that it “remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest." But that brought sharp rebuke from Democratic allies who criticized him for not taking the symbolic step of authorizing more refugees this year. The White House quickly reversed course and raised the cap, though Biden said at the time that he did not expect the U.S. would meet the new 62,500 ceiling with only four months left in the 2021 budget year, given the ongoing restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic and work the administration says is needed to rebuild the program. Refugee advocates said the record-low number reflects the damage done by the Trump administration to the program. Before the 2021 budget year, the lowest number of refugees allowed in was during the 2020 budget year when the number hit 11,814. The historical yearly average was 95,000 under previous Republican and Democratic administrations. The Biden administration has expanded the narrow eligibility criteria put in place by his predecessor that had kept out most refugees, among other steps. But critics say it's not enough and that the Biden administration has moved too slowly. It remains to be seen whether refugee admissions will reach anywhere near the 125,000 cap that Biden has set for the current budget year, which started Friday. Read:Many migrants staying in US even as expulsion flights rise Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine U.S. agencies working to resettle refugees, said efforts need to be accelerated to add personnel overseas, do more remote interviews and relieve the enormous backlog of refugee applications. She said that while the program was gutted by the Trump administration, it is now Biden's responsibility to revive it. “If we are to reach President Biden’s goal of welcoming 125,000 refugees, the administration must be aggressive and innovative in ramping up processing," she said in a statement. Mark Hetfield of HIAS, another resettlement agency, agreed that Biden “should have done better." “What this record low number really shows ... is that the administration needs to remove the red tape and other obstacles that hinder the resettlement program from effectively responding to emergencies like Afghanistan," he said. Biden, who co-sponsored legislation creating the refugee program in 1980, has said reopening the door to refugees is “how we will restore the soul of our nation.”

The World Refugee Day, which observed on June 20, should serve as a stark reminder to politicians of the need to do more to prevent and resolve conflict and crises and of the imperative to protect people irrespective of their race, nationality, beliefs or other characteristics, of the need to speak out and fight injustice, instead of fueling division and fomenting hate and to resolve to find pragmatic and lasting solutions to crises instead of blaming others or vilifying victims, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in a message ahead of the World Refugee Day. ''Two days ago, we announced that an unprecedented number of people have been forced to flee their homes. More than 82.4 million men, women and children have had their worlds turned upside down by war, violence and persecution. While the rest of us spent much of the last year at home to stay safe, they had to run from their homes just to stay alive.'' ''And as world leaders are seemingly unable or unwilling to make peace, more and more displaced people pay the price. In the past three years alone, some one million children were born into a life of exile. What will their futures hold? What opportunities will they have to achieve their potential?,'' Grandi asked. Also read: Bangladesh observes World Refugee Day highlighting refugees' rights Simply put, he noted, leaders need to step up and work together to solve today’s global challenges. ''Yet World Refugee Day is also an opportunity to celebrate the fortitude of refugees. Those who have been stripped of everything and yet carry on, often bearing the visible and invisible wounds of war, persecution, and the anxiety of exile,'' he added. Also read: UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Tahsan visits Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps ''Over the past several months, a time dominated by the pandemic, we have seen that refugees – while needing, deserving, and having the right to international protection, safety, and support – also give back to each other and to their host communities.'' ''When given the chance, they have run to the front lines of the COVID-19 response as doctors, nurses, cleaners, aid workers, care givers, shopkeepers, educators, and many other roles, providing essential services as we collectively battled the virus. We have seen them and their hosts selflessly share meagre resources and help lift those in the greatest of need,'' he further added. Also read: Myanmar refugee crisis brewing as turmoil hits economy ''Next month, we will see them in another arena demonstrating what can be achieved if included in society and given the same opportunities as the rest of us: refugee athletes will approach the starting line as they compete with the world’s best in the Tokyo Olympics,'' he continued. ''So on World Refugee Day, as we pause to express solidarity with refugees in our communities and around the world, I hope each of us will also acknowledge and admire the drive, determination, and contributions made by people forced to flee. My colleagues and I have the privilege of witnessing their tenacity and achievement every day, which - especially today – should be a source of inspiration for everyone, everywhere,'' he concluded. Also read: Fleeing coup, Myanmar refugees in India seek asylum World Refugee Day is observed every year on June 20 to respect and honour the courage and resilience of refugees across the world. The unprecedented and prolonged coronavirus pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of refugees who hardly have any resources to fight the health and economic crisis. This year's World Refugee Day theme - together we heal, learn and shine - aims at people belonging to all faiths, all over the world, working together to welcome stateless persons, displaced people, refugees and others who have been forced to flee their homes.

World Refugee Day was observed in the country Sunday to raise awareness on the rights of refugees. Designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world, Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for the plight of refugees and recognise their resilience in rebuilding their lives. Also read: Myanmar refugee crisis brewing as turmoil hits economy With the theme "together we heal, learn and shine," different donors and development organisations held programmes to mark the day.   Humanitarian Crisis Management Programme (HCMP) of Brac hosted programmes at Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. Young boys and girls took part in the events. Community Group members of Community-Based Protection of Brac arranged a drawing competition and a henna (mehendi) festival at Camp-4 Extension of Rohingya Shelter Centre in Cox's Bazar Ukhiya.   Also read: Fleeing coup, Myanmar refugees in India seek asylum Community Group volunteers celebrated the occasion by painting henna on each other's hands. An exhibition was held at the UN's refugee agency's (UNHCR) Cox's Bazar office in the afternoon to showcase the hand-made goods of Rohingya volunteers of Community-Based Protection of Brac.

It was messy and hectic in Aisha al-Abed’s kitchen, as the first day of Ramadan often is. Food had to be on the table at precisely 7:07 p.m. when the sun sets and the daylong fast ends. What is traditionally a jovial celebration of the start of the Muslim holy month around a hearty meal was muted and dispirited for her small Syrian refugee family. As the 21-year-old mother of two worked, with her toddler daughter in tow, reminders of life’s hardships were everywhere: In the makeshift kitchen, where she crouched on the ground to chop cucumbers next to a single-burner gas stove. In their home: a tent with a concrete floor and wooden walls covered in a tarp. And, definitely, in their iftar meal -- rice, lentil soup, french fries and a yogurt-cucumber dip; her sister sent over a little chicken and fish. “This is going to be a very difficult Ramadan,” al-Abed said. “This should be a better meal ... After a day’s fast, one needs more nutrition for the body. Of course, I feel defeated.” Ramadan, which began Tuesday, comes as Syrian refugees’ life of displacement has gotten even harder amid their host country Lebanon’s economic woes. The struggle can be more pronounced during the holy month, when fasting is typically followed by festive feasting to fill empty stomachs. “High prices are killing people,” said Raed Mattar, al-Abed’s 24-year-old husband. “We may fast all day and then break our fast on only an onion,” he said, using an Arabic proverb usually meant to convey disappointment after long patience. Lebanon, home to more than 1 million Syrian refugees, is reeling from an economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic and a massive explosion that destroyed parts of the capital last August. Citing the impact of the compounded crises, a U.N. study said the proportion of Syrian refugee families living under the extreme poverty line — the equivalent of roughly $25 a month per person by current black market rates — swelled to 89% in 2020, compared to 55% the previous year. Also read: Lebanon looks to China as US, Arabs refuse to help More people resorted to reducing the size or number of meals, it said. Half the Syrian refugee families surveyed suffer from food insecurity, up from 28% at the same time in 2019, it said. Refugees are not alone in their pain. The economic turmoil, which is the culmination of years of corruption and mismanagement, has squeezed the Lebanese, plunging 55% of the country’s 5 million people into poverty and shuttering businesses. As jobs became scarce, Mattar said more Lebanese competed for the low-paying construction and plumbing jobs previously left largely for foreign workers like himself. Wages lost their value as the local currency, fixed to the dollar for decades, collapsed. Mattar went from making the equivalent of more than $13 a day to less than $2, roughly the price of a kilo and a half (about 3 pounds) of non-subsidized sugar. “People are kind and are helping, but the situation has become disastrous,” he said. “The Lebanese themselves can’t live. Imagine how we are managing.” Nerves are fraying. Mattar was among hundreds displaced from an informal camp last year after a group of Lebanese set it on fire following a fight between a Syrian and a Lebanese. It was the fifth displacement for al-Abed’s young family, bouncing mainly between informal settlements in northern Lebanon. They had to move twice after that, once when a Lebanese landowner doubled the rent, telling Mattar he can afford it since he gets aid as a refugee. Their current tent is in Bhannine. This year, Syrians marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the uprising-turned-civil war in their country. Many refugees say they cannot return because their homes were destroyed or they fear retribution, either for being considered opposition or for evading military conscription, like Mattar. He and al-Abed each fled Syria in 2011 and met in Lebanon. Even before Ramadan started, Rahaf al-Saghir, another Syrian in Lebanon, fretted over what her family’s iftar would look like. Also read: Hundreds take part in funeral of man killed in Lebanon riots “I don’t know what to do,” said the recently widowed mother of three daughters. “The girls keep saying they crave meat, they crave chicken, biscuits and fruit.” As the family’s options dwindled, her daughters’ questions became more heart wrenching. Why can’t we have chips like the neighbors’ kids? Why don’t we drink milk to grow up like they say on television? Al-Saghir recalled breaking into tears when her youngest asked her what the strawberry she was seeing on television tasted like. She later bought her some, using U.N. assistance money, she said. For Ramadan, al-Saghir was determined to stop her daughters from seeing photos of other people’s iftar meals. “I don’t want them to compare themselves to others,” she said. “When you are fasting in Ramadan, you crave a lot of things.” The start of Ramadan, the first since al-Saghir’s husband died, brought tears. Her oldest daughters were used to their father waking them for suhoor, the pre-dawn meal before the day’s fast, which he’d prepare. A few months before he died — of cardiac arrest — the family moved into a one-bedroom apartment shared with a relative’s family. This year, their first iftar was simple — french fries, soup and fattoush salad. Al-Saghir wanted chicken but decided it was too expensive. Before violence uprooted them from Syria, Ramadan felt festive. Al-Saghir would cook and exchange visits with family and neighbors, gathering around scrumptious savory and sweet dishes. “Now, there’s no family, no neighbors and no sweets,” she said. “Ramadan feels like any other day. We may even feel more sorrow.” Amid her struggles, she turns to her faith. “I keep praying to God,” she said. “May our prayers in Ramadan be answered and may our situation change. ... May a new path open for us.”