John Adoyi, PBA Journalism Mentee
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said the amount of persons displaced worldwide due to unfavourable conditions like wars, human rights violations, and violence amongst others has reached a record high of 110 million.
Filippo Grandi, head of the UN agency for refugees, who made the revelation in Geneva ahead of the agency’s publication of the Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022 said “It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world” as the number of persons displaced worldwide by the end of 2022 due to unfavourable conditions rose by 19 million to hit 108.4 million, higher than the figures for 2021 which stood at 89.3 million displaced persons.
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The invasion of Ukraine by Russia contributed to 11 million displaced persons while the two months old Sudan conflict has displaced about two million persons, bringing the total figure to 110 million.
The Global Trends report is published once a year and reflects on the previous year. The data used in filing the report yearly are gotten from governments, non-governmental organisations and UNHCR.
According to the report, people displaced within the border of their country took the larger share while persons who crossed international borders stood at 35 million.
Turkey hosts the most refugees with 3.8 million people, mostly Syrians who fled the civil war, followed by Iran with 3.4 million refugees, mostly Afghans who fled the Taliban, the report said.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia contributed to more than 1 million displaced persons.
An estimated 4.4 million people worldwide were stateless or of undetermined nationality by the end of 2022.
“These figures show us that some people are far too quick to rush to conflict, and way too slow to find solutions. The consequence is devastation, displacement, and anguish for each of the millions of people forcibly uprooted from their homes,” Mr Grandi said.
Pleading for more support and funding for countries that accept the most refugees, Mr Grandi said: “People around the world continue to show extraordinary hospitality for refugees as they extend protection and help to those in need but much more international support and more equitable responsibility sharing is required, especially with those countries that are hosting most of the worlds displaced.”
UNHCR’s Global Trends report presents key statistical trends and the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people worldwide. The report also presents statistics on those who have returned to their original land or settlement.
