ISLAMABAD, June 20: At present 0.3 million young refugees around the world are compelled to join the child army and fight as child soldiers. Many of them are girls who, forced into sexual slavery, face a greatly increased risk of contracting AIDS.

These views were expressed by the speakers who gathered here to mark the 3rd World Refugee Day organized by United Nations high Commission for Refugees here on Friday. The theme of the Refugee Day was “Refugee Youth: Building the Future”.

Joining more than 70 countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Pakistan, celebrated the third World Refugee Day in an effort to highlight the plight of young refugees suffering due to trauma of war and exile.

There are 19,783,100 persons living as refugees around the world out of which 8,820,700 are living in different parts of Asia, 4,855,400 in Europe, 4,173,500 in Africa, 1,086,800 in North America, 765,400 in Latin America & Caribbean and 81,300 in Oceania.

Philip Karani, Officer-in-Charge of UNHCR, opened the celebrations. “The day is being celebrated with the pledge to present the needs of the refugees especially the seven million youths, UNHCR helps today,” said Philip Karani.

He said there were 40 million displaced persons around the world and half of them were young people. UNHCR and its partner assist an estimated 7.7 million people under the age of 18, which represent 45 per cent of the world refugee population. In Central Africa, 57 per cent of the refugees are under 18.

He said, “We are preparing and equipping them with skills to enable them to contribute positively to the development of their homeland,” Philip Karani said. He lauded Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees in the last two decades.

Deputy Director United Nations Information Centre Tetsuo M Ohno read the message of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Our Staff Reporter ADDS: Struggle for Change (SACH), an NGO, organized a function at a school in I-11 kutchi abadi to mark the International Day of Refugee Children.