June 20th is World Refugee Day, a day set aside to celebrate the strength and resilience of people who have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety. The latest information about refugees was released by the United Nations earlier this month. We want to highlight a bit of it and give you a glimpse of how IAFR is strengthening hope and helping people rebuild their lives.

The total number of forcibly displaced people has increased from 42 million when IAFR was founded in 2009 to 117.8 million at the end of 2025. That means that 1 in every 70 people in the world today has been forcibly displaced by war, persecution, and gross violations of human rights.

In 2025 alone, 5.4 million people fled across borders to seek safety in another country. Yet only 81,800 people were resettled to a new country in 2025, less than half the number recorded in 2024.

More than seven in ten refugees originate from six countries: Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Almost seven in ten refugees are in what the UNHCR defines as protracted situations—those where refugees have been in exile for five years or more without immediate prospects for implementation of durable solutions.

Data collected by the UNHCR in Eastern and Southern Africa highlights just how long many people remain displaced. The median time spent in asylum by people registered as refugees or asylum-seekers in Eastern and Southern Africa is just under 16 years.

“For too many refugees, displacement starts as a lifeline but lasts a lifetime. Humanitarian aid saves lives, but it is not the end point and does not enable refugees to become active agents in control of their futures. We need a paradigm shift that creates a new sense of hope and opportunity for people fleeing war and persecution.”

Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees

A New Sense of Hope

At IAFR, we also recognize that the response to the global refugee crisis requires more than the services of emergency relief agencies. It requires long-term recovery work that serves to strengthen hope and help refugees rebuild their lives. Recovery work helps re-humanize people and restore hope by strengthening community, faith, emotional well-being and personal capacity. It also gets behind the ideas and solutions of refugees, recognizing the important part they play in finding solutions to their displacement. CLICK HERE to learn more about IAFR’s Continuum of Response.

One example of IAFR getting behind this type of recovery work is at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. When the U.S. froze foreign aid in early 2025, the food rations that 311,000 women, children, and men depend on for survival was drastically reduced. Many receive nothing at all. Hunger has spread rapidly. Refugee pastors in Kakuma quickly reached out to us with a simple question: Is there any way IAFR can help?

Amos, a Methodist pastor in the camp, stepped into action. He gathered a diverse team of respected refugee leaders to identify who was most at risk. He made sure the group represented the camp’s many religions, nationalities, and tribal communities—an essential safeguard against the temptation or accusation of favoritism. Together, they identified those who are most vulnerable—the elderly, people with disabilities, widows, orphans, pregnant women, single mothers, and new arrivals.

Then they did something remarkable. They designed a system to purchase food and cover all logistics so efficiently that it costs just $2 to provide one vulnerable person with a month’s supply of dried beans, corn meal, cooking oil, and salt.

Since August 2025, IAFR has partnered with them to sponsor four emergency food distributions. Each distribution provides life-giving assistance to around 5,000 vulnerable people.

Our refugee partners are now preparing the next distribution for July or August. As Pastor Amos shared, “The food assistance provided relief, restored hope in the community, and demonstrated God’s love in action.”

Even in the midst of extraordinary hardship, our refugee friends are not helpless. They are leading with courage, creativity, and deep care for one another. They are not asking for pity. They are inviting partnership.