Global Partnerships Are Needed to Strengthen Education for 80 Million Refugees

Today, we somberly observe World Refugee Day amid reminders that support for refugees and vulnerable populations through education is now more urgent than ever.

UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, recently estimated that, for the first time in history, the number of forcibly displaced people fleeing persecution, war, violence, and other violations of fundamental rights is more than 80 million. The Arab region has been disproportionately affected: Although it accounts for less than 6 percent of the global population, it hosts 32 percent of all refugees and 38 percent of all people internally displaced by conflict, according to the U.N.’s Arab States 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report.