24/6/2005
Commission Pays Tribute To Courage Of Refugees

The European Commission paid tribute this week to the extraordinary courage of millions of refugees on the occasion of World Refugee Day and underlined its support for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Louis Michel, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said: “Today I want to pay tribute to the courage of refugees, their courage to survive and to rebuild their lives. The European Commission remains committed to provide strong support to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which, over the past five decades, has helped more than 50 million uprooted people.” Courage was the theme chosen this year by the Office of the UNHCR for World Refugee Day.

In addition to the millions of refugees who have crossed borders, there are between 20 and 25 million internally displaced persons, people who have fled their homes, generally because of conflict or persecution, but who remain in their country of origin and therefore are not legally classified as refugees. Women and children make up about three-quarters of refugee populations.

In 2004, the European Commission contributed $80,52M to the UNHCR.