World Refugee Day, every year on the 20^th of June, is the international day to commemorate refugees all around the world and highlight the struggles they face.

In a tweet from the Department of Justice and Equality, Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration at the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. David Stanton T.D. highlighted World Refugee Day, saying:  

“#WorldRefugeeDay is set aside to highlight the millions of people around the world displaced from their homes and loved ones. In another time or place it could be any of us. We’ll continue to work with @UNHCR to do what we can to help those in this situation”

Under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP), the Government of Ireland committed to provide international protection for up to 4,000 persons overall under the EU Resettlement and Relocation Programmes.  The bulk of this figure is composed of programme refugees coming from areas like Lebanon, and predetermined as refugees by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), asylum seekers relocating from Greece and persons arriving under the new IRPP Humanitarian Admission Programme (IHAP).

IRPP continues to work collaboratively with local authorities, various government services, the Irish Red Cross and civil society partners towards delivering a programme of orientation and integration aimed at realising the long-term objective for refugees of building their capacity for independent living. IRPP staff, working with UNHCR, will also undertake multiple overseas selection missions in 2018 and 2019 with a view to selecting further programme refugees.