Addis Ababa, June 22, 2022 (FBC) – The World Refugee Day is celebrated at the Abrehot Library in the capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday under the theme “everyone has the right to seek safety” with high-level participation of RRS, UNHCR, UN agencies and partners, donors, and refugees themselves.
Director General of the Refugee and Returnees Service (RRS) Tesfahun Gobezay said in his remark, “This year, we celebrate the Day with a value Ethiopians live for and a legacy they maintain for generations to come.
“For us, it is not who the refugees are or where they come from what matters most, but the dignity and protection refugees and asylum seekers deserve. That is why Ethiopia received them with open doors and hands stretched to embrace them,” Tesfahun noted.
In his WRD address, UNHCR Representative in Ethiopia Dr. Mamadou Dian Balde said: “Over decades, Ethiopia has demonstrated solidarity with the people who were forced to leave their homes – by generously receiving them and offering refuge. On this World Refugee Day, UNHCR wishes to thank the Ethiopian Government for its continuing solidarity with the forcibly displaced and for keeping the country’s doors open for the people in need of shelter and protection, in spite of its domestic challenges,” UNHCR Representative added.
Today, Ethiopia is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 850,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.