World Refugee Day and Reform Opportunity

June 20 is World Refugee Day. Since 2000, various events have been organized each year in many countries around the world to draw public attention to the hardships faced by refugees and to raise awareness. Why is it important to draw attention to this issue? Because doors are closing for refugees and assistance is decreasing. At the same time the number of people forced to flee their homes and countries due to wars, oppression, and other crises continues to rise.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ annual Global Trends 2025 report, the number of forcibly displaced people has reached 41.6 million. Of these, 35.6 million are refugees or people in similar situations, 6 million are Palestinian refugees, and 9 million are individuals who have applied for asylum. In addition, 68.7 million people worldwide are internally displaced. Children make up 29 percent of the global population but account for 39 percent of refugees and people in similar situations. Thus children are the most affected by refugee movements. A significant portion of the world’s refugee population has sought refuge in either the most developed or the least developed countries. Low-income countries provide protection to 68 percent of the global refugee population.

These large figures illustrate the scale of the crisis facing the world. The number of refugees resettled in third countries, one of the proposed solutions to the refugee issue, reveals how much responsibility developed countries have taken on. Approximately 90,000 people have been resettled in third countries.

By definition, refugee status arises when a person is unable to benefit from the protection of their own country. Normally every individual in the world should enjoy fundamental human rights. The right to life is the foremost of these rights. Access to basic rights such as health care and education are among the responsibilities of states. In addition, access to justice, the right to defense, fair trial, freedom of thought and expression, and freedom of worship are rights guaranteed by states. When a state fails to provide these rights or refuses to do so and actively violates them, the protective bond between the citizen and the state is broken. When human rights violations make life unbearable, people are forced to leave their countries. In such cases, the country they seek refuge in must provide them with the protection they could not obtain from their own country, on behalf of the international community. This is the foundation of refugee protection and the core of international protection.

As noted at the beginning, the more the governments of host countries and, more importantly, their publics understand why refugees have been forced to abandon their homes and homelands, the more comprehensive the rights granted to refugees will be. When this understanding and awareness are lacking, tensions—and even conflicts—arise between refugees and host communities. The rights of refugees are then violated even in the countries where they seek refuge, and the benefits they could contribute to their host societies are lost. There exists an international system of rules and obligations that govern refugee issues and bind states to responsibilities. The foremost of these rules is the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. This Convention defines the responsibilities and rights of refugees toward the countries that host them. A clear understanding of these rights is vital to resolving the refugee crisis. The awareness that World Refugee Day seeks to promote is precisely this.

The refugee-related challenges experienced in our country in recent years are a clear example of the consequences that arise when the phenomenon of refuge is not sufficiently understood. Due to its geographic location, Türkiye lies along major migration routes from north to south and from east to west. As a result it has become a destination or transit point for those seeking asylum or passing through. The developments in Syria in 2011 rapidly transformed Türkiye into the country hosting the largest number of refugees in the world. By the 2020s the number of refugees in Türkiye reached 3.7 million. Türkiye provided protection to refugees with great sacrifice, covering their health and education costs. Following the regime change in Syria, voluntary returns reduced this number to 2.26 million by June 20. However, during this period, certain shortcomings in Türkiye’s asylum legislation and a lack of public awareness about the issue led to its politicization. Anti-refugee rhetoric became a strategy for gaining electoral support. At times this rhetoric escalated into hate speech and even acts of violence. Legislative gaps have also forced refugees to live below the poverty line.

The experiences since 2011 have made it necessary for Türkiye to overhaul its asylum legislation. Both legislative and practical reforms will bring significant benefits to both refugees and the country. We hope that World Refugee Day will serve as an opportunity to bring these reforms to the forefront.