Madam Speaker. last Friday was World Refugee Day. a day to reflect and address the growing problem of refugee populations worldwide. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). there are more than 11 million refugees living outside their countries. Another 26 million are estimated to be internally displaced due to conflict alone. I urge my colleagues to address this complex and tragic issue. Since the beginning of civilization. populations have fled to escape violence and persecution and have found sanctuary in foreign lands. In 1951. the United Nations Refugee Convention was created in order to address this issue on an international level. The Convention is the key legal document defining who is a refugee. what their rights are. and the legal obligations of states to refugees. Since 1951. the issue of refugees has grown both in size and in complexity. While the Convention was designed to solve the problem of World War II refugees. it has broadly extended its scope as the number and nationality of refugees dramatically grew over time. For the first time in five years. the number of refugees has increased. primarily due to a large population exodus from Iraq into neighboring countries. Other significant population outflows that have contributed to this increase include: The Central African Republic. Chad.
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