“The World Does Not Have a Refugee Problem—It Has a Failure-of-Peace Problem,” Says DI President on World Refugee Day
Displaced International marks World Refugee Day 2026 with a powerful displaced-led message calling for asylum protection, an end to forced returns, and greater investment in peacebuilding and durable solutions.
By Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On World Refugee Day 2026, Displaced International Founder and President Ashraf Haidari delivered a powerful video message urging governments, donors, international organizations, civil society, and host communities to move beyond symbolic solidarity and take concrete action to protect refugees and displaced people.
Speaking as a former internally displaced person, refugee, and asylum seeker, Haidari emphasized that this year’s theme, “Until Everyone Is Safe,” must be understood not only as a humanitarian slogan but as a moral and political test. He warned that asylum is being weakened, forced returns are increasing, and millions of displaced people continue to suffer because wars, persecution, dictatorship, poverty, climate stress, and fragile states remain unresolved.
In the message, Haidari introduced Displaced International as a unique global initiative led, managed, and operated by displaced people and professionals with lived experience. He also highlighted Displaced Voices, DI’s platform for refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, returnees, stateless people, and displaced professionals to speak in their own names, in their own words, and with their own solutions.
Full message:
“On this World Refugee Day, I speak not only as the President of Displaced International.
I speak as someone who has lived displacement — as a former internally displaced person, refugee, and asylum seeker.
I know what it means to leave home not because you want to, but because staying has become impossible.
And I know this too: no one can tell the story of displacement better than those who have lived it.
A refugee is not a burden.
A refugee is not a threat.
A refugee is a human being whose safety has been stolen.
This year’s theme — Until Everyone Is Safe — is not just a slogan. It is a test of our laws, our politics, and our humanity.
And today, too many are failing that test.
More than 117 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced. But we are not numbers. We are mothers and fathers. We are students and workers. We are children whose schools have been destroyed, women whose rights have been erased, and families whose homes have become front lines.
We did not choose exile.
War chose it for us.
Persecution chose it for us.
Dictatorship chose it for us.
Poverty, climate stress, and failed politics chose it for us.
And yet, when we reach for safety, too many doors close. Borders harden. Asylum is weakened. Refugees are detained, demonized, pushed back, and in many cases forced to return to the same danger they escaped.
This is not migration management.
This is moral failure.
Protection is not charity.
Asylum is not a favor.
Non-refoulement is not negotiable.
From Sudan to Syria, from Ukraine to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from Myanmar and the Rohingya crisis to Gaza and Afghanistan, displacement is not caused by refugees. It is caused by war, repression, impunity, poverty, and the failure to make peace.
The world does not have a refugee problem.
The world has a war problem.
A persecution problem.
A dictatorship problem.
A failure-of-peace problem.
Afghanistan shows this painfully. Afghans who fled war, terrorism, poverty, and Taliban repression are being pushed back into conditions where safety, rights, livelihoods, and dignity are not guaranteed.
Women and girls are denied education, work, movement, and public life. Former officials, activists, journalists, minorities, civil society members, and returnees live with fear and uncertainty.
Forced return is not a durable solution.
It is displacement recycled.
It is suffering returned to sender.
This is why we created Displaced International.
DI is a unique global initiative led, managed, and operated by displaced people and professionals with lived experience. We created it because others, however well-intentioned, have too often spoken about us without hearing us, represented us without including us, and told our stories without knowing our wounds, our strengths, or our solutions.
We know our story because we have lived it.
We know the road from fear to survival.
We know the silence of exile.
We know the humiliation of being reduced to a case number.
But we also know the courage it takes to begin again.
Through Displaced Voices, we provide a platform for refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, returnees, stateless people, and displaced professionals to speak in their own names, in their own words, and with their own solutions.
Because we are not passive victims.
We are survivors.
We are advocates.
We are workers, students, parents, entrepreneurs, peacebuilders, and leaders.
On this World Refugee Day, we ask you to stand with us.
Defend asylum.
Stop forced returns.
Fund humanitarian response.
Support host communities.
Invest in education, jobs, reintegration, and peacebuilding.
And above all, help us ensure that displaced people are not only protected, but empowered to lead.
Support Displaced International.
Read and share Displaced Voices.
Amplify displaced-led solutions.
Help us replace pity with partnership, exclusion with inclusion, and displacement with dignity.
Until every refugee is safe.
Until every displaced child can learn.
Until every woman can live with dignity.
Until return means safety, not fear.
Until peace replaces exile.
Until everyone is safe, our work is not finished.
Thank you.”
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