(OSV News): This year’s observance of World Refugee Day on June 20, focused on solidarity, with the United Nations stressing the need to defend refugees’ right to seek safety, as well as ending conflicts that drive them to flee their homelands while ensuring they have opportunities and resources to thrive in their host communities.
While often used interchangeably, the terms “migrant” and “refugee” are separately defined under international law, with refugees specifically protected due to perilous conditions—such war or persecution—that make returning to their country of origin impossible.
In contrast, no uniform definitions of “migrant” or “forced migration” exist at the international level, according to the UN, although migrants are nonetheless protected as human persons under international human rights law.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, by the end of 2024 more than 123 million people—or one in every 67 persons—worldwide had been forced to flee their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and instability.
Of those, just under 43 million were refugees, with more than 73 million others displaced within their own countries, and another 8.4 million classified as asylum seekers. Additionally, the UN counts 4.4 million stateless persons, who have been denied a nationality and its attendant rights.
