Last year at this time, the UN\u2019s refugee relief agency, UNHCR, estimated that for the first time in recorded history, the number of people forcibly displaced had grown to\u00a084 million<\/strong>, with nearly 30<\/strong> million<\/strong>\u00a0refugees. We\u2019re talking about individuals and families fleeing their country, often without a viable passport, seeking asylum<\/a>. And these figures likely do not take into account more than 30 million Kurds<\/a>, whose full autonomy is not recognized, and who often face hostility and oppression from the governments of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. It does not include nearly five million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza, who are often unable to travel, or who travel only with great difficulty, and who live without many of the rights accorded citizens of Israel.<\/p>\n To my mind, World Refugee Day is a day to honor all refugees, displaced people, and populations without the human rights that most of us take for granted. We owe it to ourselves \u2014 to the world we want to live in \u2014 to fight for these rights across the spectrum, regardless of which countries refugees are from, or which religion they may observe.<\/p>\n For Heba Gowayed, who in Refuge, How the State Shapes Human Potential<\/em><\/a> \u2014 her new book just out from Princeton University Press \u2014 refuge is about finding recognition<\/em>. She writes:<\/p>\n “To understand the men and women\u2019s journeys to refuge is to begin with their displacement. Who becomes a refugee is determined by global inequalities. People who have been persecuted and subjected to violence for who they are \u2014 such as being gay, a political dissident, or Bahai \u2014 or due to widespread violence of war, or genocide, petition to be recognized as refugees according to the 1967 definition of the United Nations\u2019 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees as someone who ‘owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.’\u201d<\/p>\n One way to honor refugees is to obtain a copy of Refuge<\/em><\/a>, read it, and share what you learn.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, across the world, many celebrations and commemorations on behalf of refugees are taking place.<\/p>\n In the UK, Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj produced a video performance marking 10 years of war and suffering in Syria, in Imploded, Burned, Turned to Ash<\/a><\/em>. Multiple screenings of this recorded drawing and sound performance are taking place this week \u00a0in various locations, worldwide, including cultural\u00a0institutions and churches across the UK, Europe, Middle East and USA, throughout Refugee Week (June 20-26, 2022). The ash produced during the original performance will be installed in a glass vessel next to the screen\u00a0at selected locations, including St James\u2019s Piccadilly, London, and Great St Mary\u2019s Church, Cambridge. The performance will also be available to watch virtually on associated websites that will be accessible to anyone unable to make it to one of the physical locations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/refuge-how-the-state-shapes-human-potential-9780691203843-the-markaz-review.jpg\")
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