19 June 2011, 09:00 p.m.

The UN refugee agency, in its 60th year, will mark World Refugee Day with a rich and varied programme of events in locations worldwide and the launch of a new global awareness campaign.

UNHCR will start rolling out the multimedia "One" campaign next week. Over the next six months it will increase awareness about the forcibly displaced and stateless by telling their powerful personal stories. The campaign will carry the message that "One Refugee Without Hope is too Many." UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has recorded a World Refugee Day message that ties in with the campaign and calls on people to "Do 1 Thing."

Activities and special events will not be restricted to June 20, but will start in the week ahead of the special day. The High Commissioner António Guterres, for example, will be going to Italy's Lampedusa Island on June 19 to meet some of the thousands of people – including refugees and asylum-seekers – who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea on overcrowded vessels from Libya.

The World Refugee Day (WRD) will host a wide range of activities, including light shows, film screenings, lectures, panel discussions, food bazaars, fashion shows, cultural performances, concerts and sports contests. There will also be competitions, tree planting, speeches, poetry recitals and photography exhibitions, including a special collaboration with the prestigious Magnum agency – "60 Years, 60 Lives" – to mark UNHCR's 60th anniversary in a year that also marks the 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention.

World Refugee Day Celebrations in Africa

Several WRD events are planned in South Africa, many of them linked to the new "One" campaign and what people can do to help refugees. On June 20, UNHCR will use a ceremony in Soweto to launch the kwaito-style song, "I'm My Brother's Keeper." Performed by well-known local artists Zonke and Stoane, it promotes tolerance and peaceful coexistence between locals and foreigners, including refugees and asylum-seekers.

In Chad on World Refugee Day, UNHCR will help organize a debate at N'Djamena University on "Refugees and Migrants in Chad." In Ghana, UNHCR will launch a six-month fund-raising project to provide secondary education scholarships to 60 refugee students.

A 10-kilometre walk will be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo capital, Kinshasa, to promote awareness about the "One" campaign, with more than 5,000 people expected to take part. In the southern town of Lubumbashi, films will be screened at the Halle de l'Etoile, followed by a debate on the situation of refugees in the vast country.

Restaurants in Uganda will hold special WRD meals from June 16-20, with 25 per cent of the proceeds going to help urban refugees. Staff from UNHCR and partner agencies will take on refugees in a football match in Kampala on June 17, while there will be a WRD parade through the city two days later.

Background: World Refugee Day

First marked in 2001, World Refugee Day is held every year on June 20. Tens of thousands of people around the world take time to recognize and applaud the contribution of forcibly displaced people throughout the world. The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in more than 100 countries, involving government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

Prior to 2001, the African Refugee Day has been formally celebrated in many African countries on June 20.