World Refugee Day 2023: On World Refugee Day, we honour the courage and hopes of the millions of people forced to flee war, violence, and persecution. Including refugees in the communities where they have found safety is the most effective way to help them restart their lives and contribute to the countries hosting them. In real terms, this means ensuring that refugees can apply for jobs, enroll in schools, and access services like housing and health care. It also means fostering a sense of belonging and welcome that gives hope to refugees uprooted from their homes. At UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, we know that inclusion is the best way to support refugees in exile, to prepare them so they can help rebuild their countries when conditions allow them to return, or to thrive if they are resettled to another country. But host countries cannot do it on their own. The rest of the international community must step up and provide the financial resources to enable such progressive policies. We have seen enormous progress in this area over the past years, with outstanding donor generosity, innovative approaches to financing, and huge investments by the World Bank, regional development banks, and other international financial institutions. But clearly, more must be done. It is time for us all to commit to including refugees in our communities at all levels – in our schools, workplaces, health-care systems, and beyond, so that refugees can regain hope away from home.

Youth with Refugees Art Contest: What if your creativity had the power to spread hope? The theme of the 2023 art contest is “Hope away from home”. UNHCR is calling on young people globally to submit a drawing that illustrates the power of including refugees. This year, the best designs will be turned into t-shirts by our partner UNIQLO and sold to support displaced people globally! Find more details here: https://www.unhcr.org/youth-refugees-art-contest

UNHCR Iran marked World Refugee Day with a series of events celebrating refugees’ resilience and courage and the country’s commendable inclusive policies towards refugees. With over 3.4 million refugees and refugee-like populations, Iran has become the second-largest refugee-hosting country globally this year. Throughout Iran, a range of events were organized to commemorate this year’s World Refugee Day, under the theme “Hope Away from Home.” These events emphasized the importance of solutions, inclusion, and compassion towards those forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution, or natural disasters. UNHCR Representative a.i., Ms. Inna Gladkova, in her Refugee Day message, paid tribute to the courage and remarkable resilience of refugees and commended Iran for its inclusive refugee policies, particularly in the sectors of education and health.

UNHCR calls for concerted action as forced displacement hits new record in 2022: UNHCR’s flagship annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022, found that by the end of 2022, the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuses stood at a record 108.4 million, up 19.1 million on a year earlier, which was the biggest ever increase. The upward trajectory in global forced displacement showed no sign of slowing in 2023 as the eruption of conflict in Sudan triggered new outflows, pushing the global total to an estimated 110 million by May 2023. Read the full report here: https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends

https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/101182

WFP Uganda - Market Monitor for Refugee settlements for March 2023: The main objective of the market monitor is to understand market price trends to provide timely information to actors providing cash and in-kind assistance in the refugee response. The monitor also analyzes the relative performance and purchasing power of the WFP cash transfer value relative to in-kind assistance across the refugee response. The data has been collected by WFP, through key informant interviews with traders in markets across the 13 refugee settlements and their host communities. The market monitor further provides an update on the prices, costs and market performance of food and non-food commodities and the cost of the food and full Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB). The interactive dashboard and is available through the link: https://analytics.wfp.org/t/Public/views/2023RefugeeMarketMonitorDashboard/UgandaRefugeeMarketMonitor/774de4a8-bc05-4223-90d4-e4ebaf197761/fd6b8fb3-82ec-41b2-8515-78870c360457?%3Adisplay_count=n&%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Aorigin=viz_share_link&%3AshowVizHome=n

The USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance funded Graduating to Resilience Activity held a two-hour virtual learning event on the 13th of April 2023: "Transitioning from Graduation to Resilience." The event was part of USAID’s Agency Learning and Evidence Month, where the 7-year livelihoods program presented learnings from its first cohort of implementation to an audience of about 160+ virtual participants following invitations to a wider cross-section of partners in the Uganda Government, nonprofit, multilateral, and private sectors. Read more here: https://avsi-usa.org/g2revent-april2023/

This Information Note on seeking asylum in South Sudan is prepared for people who have been impacted by the Sudan situation and may need more information on how to seek asylum in South Sudan. You may also visit the South Sudan ‘HELP’ website page of UNHCR to get more information: https://help.unhcr.org/southsudan

Introducing IPA and J-PAL’s new Displaced Livelihoods Initiative: Displacement is at an all-time high and is projected to climb in the coming decades, making it more necessary than ever to identify impactful and cost-effective programs and policies that enable refugees and others forced to flee to achieve self-reliance and rebuild their lives. To address this growing need, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) have launched the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI), a new research fund supported by the IKEA Foundation that will generate new and rigorous evidence on livelihoods programs for displaced populations and host communities. DLI will support cutting-edge research and policy work, with the goal of identifying, evaluating, and informing innovative and effective solutions to help displaced people rebuild their lives and livelihoods after being forced to flee their homes. Sule Alan (European University Institute), Jeannie Annan (International Rescue Committee), Luc Behaghel (Paris School of Economics), and Mushfiq Mobarak (Yale University) will serve as the academic leads. Their extensive experience and knowledge will be instrumental in guiding the direction and impact of the initiative. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3NC1boI

UNHCR handed over essential medical equipment and medicines worth USD 10 million to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), in partnership with and the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants’ Affairs (BAFIA), on 11 April 2023 in Tehran. The equipment including, ambulances, dialysis machines, CT scanners, X-Ray machines, ventilators, mobile health post and laboratory, rapid testing kits for malaria, COVID-19, Cholera, Hepatitis, and other communicable diseases, as well as many other essential medical items, will be delivered to some public hospitals and health posts in 27 provinces across the country in refugee hosting areas and refugee settlements.