Friday, June 20 is World Refugee Day, and the head of a Santa Barbara-based global nonprofit humanitarian aid organization said the world is seeing the largest number of refugees on record.
"There are more displaced people in our world than in any time in our recorded history," said ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray. "The United Nations has announced that there are 132 million people forcibly displaced worldwide. That's one in 67 people."
ShelterBox provides tents, solar lights, water purification systems, and other essentials to people impacted by disasters, conflict, and the impacts of climate change.
Murray said the refugee crisis has been complicated by governments slashing humanitarian aid programs. "What you see is that there are massive transitions underway that have affected organizations doing humanitarian global relief efforts," said Murray. "It's put even more pressure on organizations like ShelterBox that are on the front lines."
