World Refugee Day 2012

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World Refugee Day 2012

Today marks World Refugee Day, which the United Nations uses to raise awareness of the plight of the estimated 42 million displaced people worldwide. A UN report released this week showed that 800,000 people were forced to flee across borders last year -- more than any time since 2000. In a message to mark the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, "Refugees leave because they have no choice. We must choose to help." -- Lloyd Young (30 photos total)

A Myanmar ethnic Rohingya child preparing for a midday prayer on April 23 inside a community school in Klang, a port town 30 kilometres west of Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is observing World Refugee Day along with other countries of the world, there are over 98,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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Afghan refugee children gather in an alley of a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on June 5. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

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A Rohingya Muslim baby rests in a swing at an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on World Refugee Day June 20. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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Mothers hold their babies as they wait for medicine at the SMRU hospital inside the Mae La refugee camp on June 6 in Tak province, Thailand. The camp is situated along the Burma-Thailand border and is home to around 50,000 refugees. Mae La is the largest of nine camps along the Thai border where the Burmese live in a stateless limbo for many years. Aung San Suu Kyi recently visited the camp during her first visit to Thailand in 24 years. She spoke briefly assuring that she would strive to bring about positive change and more cooperation from Thai authorities. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

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Rohingyas from Myanmar sit on a jetty by the river Naf after being arrested by Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB) while trying to get into Bangladesh, in Teknaf on June 18. An unknown number of people fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine region are adrift in boats on the Naf River and some have been turned back by Bangladeshi border authorities, according to the United Nations refugee agency. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters) #

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Busloads of people from Sudan's Blue Nile state arrive at Yusuf Batil new refugee camp in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, that is now home to over 100,000 refugees on June 14. The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) are racing to transport tens of thousands of people to this new site, while more are expected to cross over in the coming weeks and permanent camps lack sufficient water. Aid agencies are faced with the task of helping more than 150,000 people, essentially those who have fled south to escape hunger and bombing in Sudan's troubled border states. (Hannah McNeish/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Afghan girl waits with her family to return to Afghanistan from a United Nations funded repatriation center on the outskirts of Peshawar on June 20. More than 5.7 million Afghans have returned home in the last decade following the United States led invasion and they constitute nearly a quarter of the population, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). But fewer than 70,000 went back last year, against 112,600 in 2010, it said. Afghans also constituted the large number of asylum seekers in the West last year, lodging 35,700 requests. Pakistan, which is home to 2 million Afghan refugees, said foreign assistance for them had shrunk over the years while countries hosting them still bore a heavy burden. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters) #

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Syrian-Kurdish children walk in the Domiz refugee camp, 20 km south-east of Dohuk city, which hosts refugees of all stripes, from soldiers who did not want to kill their countrymen to people trying to escape the violence across the border in Kurdistan in northern Iraq. The United Nations says over 86,000 Syrians have fled to surrounding countries to escape a brutal crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad's regime on an uprising against his rule, though only some 5,400 have ended up in Iraq. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Syrian refugees walk in the Kilis refugee camp on June 20 near the Syrian border. Refugee camps in the southeastern provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Kilis shelter nearly 31,000 Syrians, a number that surged after a recent escalation of violence in Syria, particularly in northwestern towns near the Turkish border. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A refugee from Blue Nile cooks for her family in Yusuf Batil, Upper Nile State, South Sudan on June 20. Almost 20,000 refugees have been relocated in this camp because of the progressive deterioration of the situation in the camps where they had settled at first, where access to necessities like water was harder due to the overpopulation of the sites. (Giulio Petrocco/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Rohingya Muslim children study at an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on World Refugee Day, June 20. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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Afghan refugees sit at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registration center on the outskirts of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 20 as they prepare to return to their home country after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press) #

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An Afghan refugee woman walks at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registration center on the outskirts of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan onJune 20 as they prepare to return to their home country after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press) #

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Sangmo, 50, combs a young girl's hair at a Tibetan refugee camp on June 17 in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. The camps main objective is to enable the refugees with the necessary skills to support themselves and live productive lives. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #

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A young Rohingya Muslim boy sits at the entrance to his home at an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on World Refugee Day. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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An exiled Tibetan watches television as a portrait of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is seen at a small Tibetan colony in New Delhi, India on June 20. (Tsering Topgyal/Associated Press) #

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A protester holds a banner reading 'Thank you for hosting us' during a demonstration in the city of Cape Town, South Africa on June 20. Protesters took to the streets to mark World Refugee Day and protest against the closure of the refugee reception office in Cape Town. (Schalk van Zuydam/Associated Press) #

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A Tibetan man holds an umbrella in the shape of Tibetan flag inside a Tibetan refugee camp in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. (Niranjan Shrestha/Assocaited Press) #

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Choe-den, 75 , who fled Tibet 35 years ago, works in the Tibetan Handicraft Center, at a Tibetan refugee camp, in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #

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Afghan refugee youth are silhouetted against the sunset as they gather at a slum on World Refugee Day on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Anjum Naveed/Associated Press) #

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Palestinian refugees, stand next to a garbage container set on fire by angry Palestinians at their refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon on June 19. Residents of the camp are protesting after clashes broke out Monday in the Nahr el-Bared camp in the north of Lebanon during the funeral of a Palestinian who was killed in a confrontation Friday. The Lebanese army is meant to guard the perimeters of the country's refugee camps, which mostly form impoverished ghettos. There are about 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. (Mohammad Zaatari/Associated Press) #

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Rohingya Muslim children study at an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on World Refugee Day June 20. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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Burmese monks play a game of Sepak Takraw ( kick volleyball) at the Thirisaridar monastery inside the Mae La refugee camp on June 7 in Tak province, Thailand. The refugee camp is situated along the Burma-Thailand border and is home to around 50,000 refugees. Mae La is the largest of nine camps along the Thai border where the Burmese live in a stateless limbo for many years. Aung San Suu Kyi recently visited the camp during her first visit to Thailand in 24 years. She spoke briefly assuring that she would strive to bring about positive change and more cooperation from Thai authorities. (aula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

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A Rohingya Muslim boy is given a bath at an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on World Refugee Day. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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A Tibetan boy shows his trophy on June 18 after winning a soccer match which was organized to mark the upcoming birthday of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama inside a Tibetan refugee camp, in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. The camps main objective is to enable the refugees with the necessary skills to support themselves and live productive lives. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #

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A Rohingya Muslim woman walks out of an unauthorized camp that houses Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar during an ethnic strife in 1992, in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, on World Refugee Day June 20. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press) #

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Muslims stand near their refugee camp in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state in western Myanmar on June 15. The communal violence that swept through a western Myanmar state over the past week killed dozens of people. (Khin Maung Win/Associated Press) #

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Dhedoen, the oldest survivor at the camp is fed by a fellow refugee at a Tibetan refugee camp in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. The camps main objective is to enable the refugees with the necessary skills to support themselves and live productive lives. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #

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An Afghan refugee boy (center) looks on while he and others collect items of potential use from a pile of garbage, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on June 6. (Nathalie Bardou/Associated Press) #

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Prakash Thakuri, who married a Tibetan woman, wheels his child inside a Tibetan refugee camp, in Katmandu, Nepal. The camp, which houses around 350 Tibetans who have crossed the border into Nepal from Tibet, was set up in 1960 under the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Swiss Development Corporation. The camps main objective is to enable the refugees with the necessary skills to support themselves and live productive lives. World Refugee Day, a day initiated by the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of refugees worldwide, is observed on June 20 every year. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #