World Refugee Day: Honouring Resilience in the Face of Hate Normalization

Every year on June 20, World Refugee Day reminds us of the courage and resilience of millions forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution, and violence. But this year, the day carries a heavier weight. As anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric grows louder, we must confront a painful truth: the world is becoming more hostile to those who need safety the most.

The Global Refugee Crisis Today

Today, over 110 million people are displaced—the highest number ever recorded (UNHCR). From Syria to Sudan, Myanmar to Ukraine, to Palestine and beyond, families are torn apart by conflict and oppression. Many risk everything for a chance at survival, only to face closed borders, brutal detention centres, and dehumanizing rhetorics that paints refugees as "burdens" or "threats" to the stability of a country. In fact, that cannot be further from the truth. 

In the last six months, we have watched as honest, hardworking refugees and immigrants are systematically criminalized. We have watched the world normalize the idea that human rights do not apply to all humans. We have seen laws created with the explicit intent to criminalize asylum—like recent U.S. policies slashing refugee resettlement. We have witnessed increased surveillance of our refugee and immigrant communities alongside decreased protections for their basic dignity.

And yet, we have also seen humanity come alive in the streets, across state lines and national borders. We have seen ordinary people gamble with their safety, immigration status, and well-being to protect strangers from lawless actions. We have watched people of different nations, religions and ethnicities come together to build communities that refuse to rest until all of us are safe.

In order to understand this type of revolutionary love and commitment, you must first understand that refugees are not statistics. They are doctors, teachers, artists, and entrepreneurs whose contributions have shaped the same nations who are turning their backs on them. 

This isn’t just policy—it’s a betrayal of humanity.

Why Solidarity Matters More Than Ever

Many North American citizens fail to realize that refugees don’t choose to flee; They choose to survive. They chose to leave the only life they have known and built, to offer a better future of safety and opportunity for future generations that they have not even met yet. History proves that when welcomed, refugees thrive; Albert Einstein came to America after fleeing Nazi-Germany, along with Google's co-founder Sergey Brin fleeing Soviet persecution, and Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State, is a refugee from Czech.

Yet today’s response to refugees has been closed borders, closed hearts, and a staggering, shameful apathy. 

Sitti’s Truth: We Are Nothing Without Refugees

At Sitti, we know this intimately. Our work exists because of refugees. Yet while systems fail them, refugees persist—not as victims, but as artisans, innovators, and builders. Every Sitti product you hold is proof; Our soaps are crafted by Palestinian refugees in Jerash Camp, our tatreez patterns stitched by displaced women in Amman, and all our products created by hands that have known exile. Purchasing products from Sitti is an act of solidarity with communities transforming survival into self-determination,

Refugees are not "beneficiaries." They are the heart of our enterprise. Their skills, stories, and resilience are what make Sitti matter.

Without them, there is no Sitti.

And without refugees, the world loses doctors who could cure, teachers who could inspire, entrepreneurs who could innovate, and the opportunity to provide safety to human beings that will shape our societies. When we reject refugees, we reject our own collective future.

This World Refugee Day, we ask you to:

• Educate yourself on refugee crises (start with UNHCR).

• Challenge hate when you hear it—online, in politics, at dinner tables and in your social circles.

• Support refugee-led businesses that honour dignity, not charity.

Because refugees aren’t just survivors. They are builders. And if we let them, they’ll rebuild the world—for all of us.