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World Refugee Day is June 20

After being captured and tortured by the Sudanese government, Fema and her family fled to the Netherlands looking for protection. She didn't receive help right away. Instead, the immigration officials treated her hostilely and doubted her story—and consequently her health suffered. Finally, after a 5-year battle, her family was recently granted refugee status.

On June 20, World Refugee Day celebrates and honors people such as Fema who have endured hardships and risked everything to make a better life for themselves, free from war and persecution. This year's theme, "Protecting Refugees: Rebuilding Lives in Safety and Dignity," aims to increase public understanding of people who are forced to flee the familiar and struggle to adapt to a new homeland. Currently, there are over 10 million refugees throughout the world, with a high percentage from Afghanistan and the Sudan.

To help raise awareness, there are a variety of events occurring in over 100 countries. In the United States, there's a cultural program and immigrant resource fair in the Twin Cities, and a book club dinner in Washington, DC with the Refugee Experience Series group, just to name a couple. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is hosting the Refugee Film Festival in Tokyo, as well as several programs across Canada. The International Rescue Committee is also coordinating a series of events in Africa, using the arts to shed light on refugee situations in places such as Ethiopia and Guinea.

If there's nothing going on in your area, try hosting your own event with some help from this Amnesty International toolkit.

Looking to get involved beyond this one day? Check out our lists of more than 225 volunteer opportunities and 700 organizations around the globe dedicated to assisting refugees.