About eight people around the world flee their homes every minute due to global conflict, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Today Rwanda is celebrating World Refugee Day, a day aimed at raising awareness about the effects of war and persecution on refugees and internally displaced people. “I call upon the international community to intensify efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts and help achieve peace and security so that refugees can return home,” said Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations on the UN main page. The day will be marked today by the UN to honour the 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world. According to officials, the national event will take place at Mugombwa Refugee Camp in the Southern Province but government plans to mark the day in all five refugee camps in the country. Frederic Ntawukuriryayo, the communications specialist for Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Crisis (Midmar) said government officials will be meeting with refugees to discuss the challenges they face. The UNHCR says Rwanda hosts over 70,000 refugees, most of whom are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi. There are five refugee camps in Rwanda – Mugombwa, Gihembe, Nyabiheke, Kiziba and Kigeme. Ntawukuriryayo said World Refugee Day presents an opportunity for countries across the world to understand the challenges facing refugees and work towards finding durable solutions. “It is a universal day organised to discuss the problems affecting refugees and how they can be addressed,” he said. The government is making no specific resolutions for this year’s World Refugee Day. However, Ntawukuriryayo explained that Midmir, in collaboration with partners, will continue to enforce and strengthen the programmes put in place to assist refugees including nutrition, combating gender-based violence and developing education and health facilities. The theme of this year’s World Refugee Day is, ‘One family torn apart by war is too many.’
