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World Refugee Day

Samantha EarlyJune 20, 2013

There are more than 45 million displaced people in the world, according to the United Nations. The number of refugees or internally displaced is at an 18-year high, with war the major cause.

https://p.dw.com/p/18smP
A Syrian child in a refugee camp in Jordan
Image: Save the Children

There are more than 45 million refugees and internally displaced people in the world, according to the United Nations. That's the most in 18 years. War is the main cause, and the crisis in Syria is a major new factor in global displacement.

On World Refugee Day, DW looks at why people flee their homes and how refugees are treated.

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Reports & Analysis

African refugees wait for a job offer EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Eritrean anguish

An Eritrean refugee talks about life in Tel Aviv after surviving a torture camp in Sinai.
June 11, 2013
Members of the Yonata family in Hambug Photo: S. Dege

Church sanctuary

A Syrian family fled to Germany when civil war broke out and found refuge in a church in Hamburg.
May 24, 2013
Abdoullah Ag Mohammed

Beyond politics

A Tuareg student tries to make the best of being a refugee - once again.
April 3, 2013
Lebanon, Beirut Photo: Mona Naggar

Brink of collapse

Tensions between Syrian refugees and local Lebanese are beginning to heat up.
June 20, 2013

Refugee plight

Malian internal refugees struggle to cope with daily life as they look to the future with hope.
May 30, 2013
Polly Truscott

Refugee rights

The Amnesty International 2013 human rights report focuses on the worsening situation of refugees.
May 23, 2013
Volunteers carry a banner promoting refugee protests (c) Stephanie Höppner

Refugee protests

A bus full of volunteers is touring Germany to promote improved living standards for refugees.
March 11, 2013
Zataari refugee campe Photo:Mohammad Hannon/AP/dapd).

No hope camps

Refugee camps may supply people with basic need, but life there is monotonous.
October 9, 2012
The Australian immigration detention center on Christmas Island. (Photo: Paula Bronstein)

Desperate circumstances

A new online project reveals what goes on in Australia's immigration detention centers.
June 20, 2013
Refugees in tent in Hamburg; photo: DW/Kathrin Erdmann 31.05 2013 Hamburg

'We are street kids now'

Many refugees from Africa who originally fled to Italy are living rough in Hamburg.
June 2, 2013
Refugees stand in line for food at Levinsky Soup. Copyright: DW/Ulrike Schleicher Tel Aviv

Tough stance

An initiative in Tel Aviv is trying to help African refugees suffering under the official policy.
March 21, 2013
Illegal immigrants are seen in a detention center in Kyprinos, in the region of Evros, at the Greek-Turkish borders (Photo: EPA/Nikos Arvanitdis)

No sign of a policy

The EU has long had the goal of a common asylum policy, but there's still no sign of it.
January 10, 2013
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