20 June 2011 - World Refugee Day

First celebrated in 2001, World Refugee Day is held every year on June 20. The annual commemoration is usually marked by a variety of events in more than 100 countries, involving government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves. The event is particularly important this year as it falls in a year marked by the number of revolts, conflicts and repressions taking place in North Africa and the Middle East Region as well as in Cote d'Ivoire forcing a lot of people to leave their houses, jobs and countries of origins looking for help and assistance on the north shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The reaction of the EU member states seemed inadequate and highlighted national self-interests and the need for a more organic response at regional and international level.
The UN Refugee Agency will release tomorrow the page of the event as advertised on its website
For more information on this subject I suggest to visit the site of the Refugee Studies Centre, the research center founded in 1982 as part of the Oxford Department of International Development (Queen Elizabeth House) at the University of Oxford.