#WithRefugees #ByForWithRefugees
June 20th, World Refugee Day Joint Event
Shares and posts with the hashtag “#BeatorEatPlastic” for our weeklong campaign conducted within the context of the World Environment Day has received more than 3 million impressions, thanks to great contribution of our distinguished members. In this regard, we would like to express our gratitude to our members, for their valuable efforts for the initiatives we have engaged in to raise awareness towards the building a sustainable future. We wish to build a future together, with a raised level of awareness.
On World Refugee Day, celebrated every year on June 20th since 2001, we commemorate and honor the people around the world, who had to flee their homes and to escape cruelty, due to violence and oppression they faced. Picking a different theme for each year, United Nations has set the theme of this year as “WithRefugees.”
Today, the number of refugees escaping from conflict and wars has reached the peak of modern history, constituting 1% of the world population. Out of the 7.6 billion world population; 76 million people, in other words, a number that is close the population of Turkey, were forced to leave their homes due to ongoing conflicts.
Introduced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June 2016 with the initiative of #WithRefugees, the Petition Movement is a very important work, in terms of calling the governments to ensure fair treatment for refugees. This initiative encourages governments to act for forcefully displaced communities, and encourages people to stand in solidarity with them. The Petition asks decision-makers to:
- Ensure every refugee child gets an education.
- Ensure every refugee family has somewhere safe to live.
- Ensure every refugee can work or learn new skills to support their families.
United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) invites all stakeholders including municipalities, citizens’ assemblies, universities, non-governmental organizations and private sector to participate in the efforts for joint awareness-raising campaigns on international days, to ensure cooperation for the localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Within this scope, as part of the campaign to be held at World Refugee Day on June 20th, join our work by signing the petition, which is open to everyone, make a call to action for the petition and use the hashtags #WithRefugees, #ByForWithRefugees, #SDG1, #SDG5, #SDG8, #SDG10, #SDG11, #SDG16 and #SDG17 -in line with the content you will share- on social media. During the campaign, we will be also sharing quick facts on migration and refugee issues.
The Twitter event will start on the morning of June 20th, 2018 and will continue until 12 AM.
We are looking forward to your support in this campaign.
Sincerely,
UCLG-MEWA General Secretariat