The United Nations in Monday said
devastating conflicts, violence and
persecution in places like Syria and South
Sudan had left a record 65.6 million people
uprooted from their homes by the end of
2016.
That number marks a jump of just 300,000
from the end of 2015, but is more than six
million higher than at the end of 2014,
according to a fresh report published by the
UN refugee agency.
This is “the highest figure since we started
recording these figures,” UNHCR chief Filippo
Grandi told reporters ahead of the report
launch.
“By any measure, this is an unacceptable
number, and it speaks louder than ever to the
need for solidarity and common purpose in
preventing and resolving crises,” he said.
The figures released ahead of World Refugee
Day showed that a full 10.3 million of the
world’s displaced people fled their homes last
year alone, including 3.4 million who crossed
international borders to become refugees.
– ‘Every three seconds’ –
“This equates to one person becoming
displaced every three seconds — less than the
time it takes to read this sentence,” UNHCR
pointed out in a statement.
Most people who have been forced from their
homes flee within their own country, and are
defined as internally displaced people, or
IDPs.
At the end of 2016, there were some 40.3
million IDPs in the world, down slightly from
40.8 million a year earlier, with Syria, Iraq and
Colombia accounting for the greatest
numbers.
Another 22.5 million people — half of them
children — were registered as refugees last
year, the UNHCR report showed, pointing out
that this is “the highest level ever recorded”.
Syria’s six-year conflict alone has sent more
than 5.5 million people seeking safety in other
countries, including 825,000 last year alone,
making it the world’s biggest producer of
refugees.
Along with the 6.3 million Syrians displaced
inside the country, these numbers show that a
nearly two thirds of all Syrians have been
forced from their homes, the report said.
As the Syrian civil war rages on, desperately
needed funding for humanitarian aid in the
country has begun to dwindle, Grandi said,
lamenting that very little of the billions
promised at an international donor’s
conference in Brussels in April had so far
materialised.
– Forgotten crisis? –
The Syrian conflict, which has killed more than
320,000 people, “is becoming a forgotten
crisis,” he warned.
The UN refugee chief meanwhile voiced most
alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in
South Sudan, which he said was currently the
world’s “fastest growing refugee crisis and
displacement crisis.”
South Sudan’s civil war, which began in
December 2013, has left tens of thousands
dead and forced a total of 3.7 million people
from their homes — nearly a third of the
population.
Overall, the refugee population from the
world’s youngest country swelled 85 percent
last year to reach 1.4 million by the end of
2016, the UNHCR report showed.
And that number has ballooned by a further
half million people since then, the agency
said, stressing the most of the refugees had
left since the “disastrous breakdown of peace
efforts” last July.
Syria and South Sudan were far from the only
countries where people were being uprooted
en masse, with Monday’s report also pointing
to large-scale displacement in Afghanistan,
Iraq and Sudan, just to name a few.
And nearly 70 years after Palestinians first
fled today’s Israel, some 5.3 million
Palestinians are currently living as refugees —
the highest level ever recorded, UNHCR said.
Monday’s report also pointed out that, despite
huge focus on Europe’s migrant crisis, it is
poorer countries that host most of the world’s
refugees.
A full 84 percent of refugees are living in low-
and middle-income countries, UNHCR said,
blaming this “huge imbalance” on “the
continuing lack of consensus internationally
when it comes to refugee hosting and the
proximity of many poor countries to regions of
conflict.”
AFP
devastating conflicts, violence and
persecution in places like Syria and South
Sudan had left a record 65.6 million people
uprooted from their homes by the end of
2016.
That number marks a jump of just 300,000
from the end of 2015, but is more than six
million higher than at the end of 2014,
according to a fresh report published by the
UN refugee agency.
This is “the highest figure since we started
recording these figures,” UNHCR chief Filippo
Grandi told reporters ahead of the report
launch.
“By any measure, this is an unacceptable
number, and it speaks louder than ever to the
need for solidarity and common purpose in
preventing and resolving crises,” he said.
The figures released ahead of World Refugee
Day showed that a full 10.3 million of the
world’s displaced people fled their homes last
year alone, including 3.4 million who crossed
international borders to become refugees.
– ‘Every three seconds’ –
“This equates to one person becoming
displaced every three seconds — less than the
time it takes to read this sentence,” UNHCR
pointed out in a statement.
Most people who have been forced from their
homes flee within their own country, and are
defined as internally displaced people, or
IDPs.
At the end of 2016, there were some 40.3
million IDPs in the world, down slightly from
40.8 million a year earlier, with Syria, Iraq and
Colombia accounting for the greatest
numbers.
Another 22.5 million people — half of them
children — were registered as refugees last
year, the UNHCR report showed, pointing out
that this is “the highest level ever recorded”.
Syria’s six-year conflict alone has sent more
than 5.5 million people seeking safety in other
countries, including 825,000 last year alone,
making it the world’s biggest producer of
refugees.
Along with the 6.3 million Syrians displaced
inside the country, these numbers show that a
nearly two thirds of all Syrians have been
forced from their homes, the report said.
As the Syrian civil war rages on, desperately
needed funding for humanitarian aid in the
country has begun to dwindle, Grandi said,
lamenting that very little of the billions
promised at an international donor’s
conference in Brussels in April had so far
materialised.
– Forgotten crisis? –
The Syrian conflict, which has killed more than
320,000 people, “is becoming a forgotten
crisis,” he warned.
The UN refugee chief meanwhile voiced most
alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in
South Sudan, which he said was currently the
world’s “fastest growing refugee crisis and
displacement crisis.”
South Sudan’s civil war, which began in
December 2013, has left tens of thousands
dead and forced a total of 3.7 million people
from their homes — nearly a third of the
population.
Overall, the refugee population from the
world’s youngest country swelled 85 percent
last year to reach 1.4 million by the end of
2016, the UNHCR report showed.
And that number has ballooned by a further
half million people since then, the agency
said, stressing the most of the refugees had
left since the “disastrous breakdown of peace
efforts” last July.
Syria and South Sudan were far from the only
countries where people were being uprooted
en masse, with Monday’s report also pointing
to large-scale displacement in Afghanistan,
Iraq and Sudan, just to name a few.
And nearly 70 years after Palestinians first
fled today’s Israel, some 5.3 million
Palestinians are currently living as refugees —
the highest level ever recorded, UNHCR said.
Monday’s report also pointed out that, despite
huge focus on Europe’s migrant crisis, it is
poorer countries that host most of the world’s
refugees.
A full 84 percent of refugees are living in low-
and middle-income countries, UNHCR said,
blaming this “huge imbalance” on “the
continuing lack of consensus internationally
when it comes to refugee hosting and the
proximity of many poor countries to regions of
conflict.”
AFP
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