World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on 20 June. This international day was designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe, shine a light on their plight, and work together to find long-term solutions to displacement.

In 2026, the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Convention, the international agreement that protects the rights of refugees and people forced to flee.

This World Refugee Day 2026, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) invites people everywhere to stand in solidarity with refugees and defend the right to seek safety and protection.

What does refugee protection mean?

Protection means ensuring that every refugee is treated with dignity, has their rights respected, and receives the support needed to rebuild their life and feel at home in a new community.

Protection is not something one person or organisation can provide alone. It grows through everyday actions, relationships, and communities that choose solidarity over fear.

Protection includes:

• being treated with dignity and having access to rights, justice, and legal documentation
• living in safety, in a “safe home”
• access to healthcare, education, and essential services
• opportunities to work, and support oneself and one’s family
• belonging and participating to a community where people are welcomed, supported, and empowered
• living free from violence, fear, and extreme hardship, with the possibility to build a future with hope

Why refugee protection matters

Today, millions of refugees face closed borders, exclusion, fear, and the denial of their most basic rights.

When rights are weakened for some people, they are weakened for everyone. 

Refugees are not only recipient of protection, they actively help create it. They build relationships, hold knowledge, find solutions, and help strengthen the systems of protection that ultimately benefit all of us.

Take action for refugees

There are multiple ways in which you can help protect refugees:

• stand against hate and exclusion
• advocate for refugee rights
• share stories of solidarity
• support welcoming communities
• help ensure that people forced to flee are treated with humanity and respect.

In a world that too often looks away, choose to step forward. Let’s get together to defend the right to safety and protection.