World | WPN World People News

Following days of fierce global criticism, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end his policy of family separations along the U.S.-Mexico border.

On World Refugee Day (June 20), mayors from more than 50 cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Los Angeles, Manchester, Mexico City, New York, São Paulo and Sydney, are calling for more local authorities and municipalities to join them in welcoming and including refugees in their communities.

Saudi-led coalition forces have seized Yemen's Hodeida airport from Iran-aligned Houthis, a big step toward recapturing the port city following a week of fighting that spilled into residential neighborhoods.

Women and children wait for aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where one million Rohingya refugees now live.

The United Nations defines refugees as people fleeing conflict or persecution. They are granted refugee status by the country they enter, which grants them protection under international law and makes them eligible for aid. People who are displaced from their homes but remain in their country are not considered refugees.

Some 50 million migrant children worldwide were living in other countries or were still living in their native countries after having been forcibly displaced from their homes in 2016, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, on June 19, criticized the U.S. government’s violation of human rights and humanitarian standards in its treatment of migrants – and especially migrant children – attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The United Nations refugee agency says a record 68.5 million people around the world were forced to flee their homes last year due to war, violence and persecution.

Today, World Refugee Day, is a time for solidarity with refugees – and with the communities that welcome them. As conflicts emerge, recur, persist and deepen, 68.5 million people are uprooted around the world. Nine out of 10 are in their own countries or countries next door, and the impact is massive – on refugees themselves, and on the communities that open their doors to them. Now, more than ever, taking care of refugees must be a global – and shared – responsibility. It’s time to do things differently.