In the last decade around a million refugees were able to return voluntarily to their homes every year.

Due to the persistence of conflicts from Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, only a quarter as many were able to return last year - the lowest number in two decades.

At the end of 2009, there were more than 15 million refugees.

That is a lot of people who cannot go home.

Four fifths of the world’s refugees live in the developing world, increasingly in urban areas.

They are hosted by communities which though often poor themselves continue to welcome and support them.

For World Refugee Day this year, I will be in Syria whose Government and people typify this spirit of generosity.

I would like in particular to salute the city of Damascus, one of the world’s oldest cities, for the succour it provides to Iraqis and others.

Despite the decline in voluntary repatriation opportunities for refugees, UNHCR is working hard on solutions.

Last year, more than 128,000 refugees were referred for resettlement from their country of first asylum to another one, usually in the developed world, with better opportunities to rebuild their lives. This was more than double the number in 2005.

Through the extraordinary generosity of the Government and people of Tanzania, more than 162,000 Burundian refugees from 1972 have been granted citizenship in that country.

Good examples are out there. We just need more of them.

But we also need to do more to combat the misunderstandings about refugees often sewn deliberately and driven by xenophobia and racism. This is particularly important because the majority of the world's refugees now live in cities and less and less in isolated refugee camps.

Crucially, we need to provide more support for education and other essential life skills so even if refugees have lost their homes, they haven’t lost their futures.

On this, World Refugee Day, I ask you to help us help refugees find a place to call home.