Tens of millions of people in the world have been internally or externally displaced due to conflict, natural disasters, and climate crises, according to the latest report released by the United Nations.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said, “This year’s winter will be very challenging for millions of ‘immigrant refugees’ around the world.” Our world is facing a crisis of internal displacement. Due to tragedies such as conflict, disaster, and climate crisis, the highest number of people in the world have been displaced within their own countries.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced last June the United Nations action plan on international displacement and said that it is everyone’s responsibility to provide assistance to people in need of assistance. He said, “The plight of internally displaced persons is more than a humanitarian issue. It brings an integrated approach to the integration of development, peacekeeping, human rights, climate action and disaster risk reduction efforts.”
One million people displaced in 2022 alone
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday that in 2022, one million people in the world were forced to leave their homes. The agency also said that the United Nations is helping the needy in various ways.
Filippo Grandi, head of the UNHCR, called this figure a number that will never be established.
This number is 90 million in 2021 and has reached 100 million this year. In many parts of the world, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Syria and Myanmar, violence, poverty and protracted conflict migration were the main factors.
“Thousands of desperate migrants have looked to Europe as their destination of choice, risking their lives in the hands of human traffickers and embarking on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean,” the UN agency said.
More than seven years have passed since the start of the protracted conflict in Yemen, which has caused a humanitarian disaster and forced more than 4.3 million people to flee their homes.
Last May, the United Nations Migration Agency (IOM) and the European Union’s humanitarian aid arm, ECO, announced that they would intensify their efforts to meet the needs of more than 325,000 migrants displaced by the conflict and the communities that shelter them. Christa Rotensteiner, head of the IOM mission in Yemen, said, “The situation in Yemen is getting worse for migrants and especially for women. They live in dire conditions with little control over their lives in Yemen.”
The war in Syria has been disrupting life for 11 years. About 5 million children born in Syria have never known the country in peace. More than 80,000 Syrians call Jordan’s vast refugee camp “home,” and many of them may have to stay outside their country for the time being. According to Dominique Barts, the representative of the UNHCR in Amman, the capital of Jordan, recently, the possibility of their return to their country does not seem promising for the time being. He said, “We are not seeing a favorable environment for repatriation in Syria.” Overall, Jordan shelters approximately 675,000 registered refugees from Syria, and most of them live in Jordanian towns and villages among local communities. Only 17 percent live in the two main refugee camps, Zaatari and Azraq.
Five years ago, thousands of Rohingya fled their homes in Myanmar. About one million refugees live in the vast Cox’s Bazar camp across the border from neighboring Bangladesh. In March this year, the United Nations launched its latest plan to repatriate refugees. It called for more than 881 million US dollars for refugees and neighboring communities (more than five million Bangladeshis). It is highly dependent on aid.
According to the statistics of the United Nations refugee agency, there are more than 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees across Europe as of December.
Millions of people have been displaced due to the armed conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region that started in November 2020. By the end of the year, a fragile international-brokered ceasefire appeared to be in place, and aid had been returning to the remote northern regions for months. Also, many returned home to rebuild their broken lives.
Refugees are not safe even in camps
Last January, the United Nations refugee agency warned that refugees in the region were struggling to get enough food, medicine and clean water and were at risk of death if the situation did not improve. According to the news communicated by the United Nations, refugees are also under direct attack. For example, in February, thousands of Eritreans were forced to flee a camp in the Afar region after an attack by armed men. It is also said that they stole goods from the refugee camp and killed the residents there. By August, United Nations agencies had appealed for immediate financial assistance to support more than 750,000 people seeking asylum in Ethiopia. The World Food Program has warned that many refugees will not have anything to eat until the money is received.
According to UNHCR, governments around the world have committed to providing a substantial amount of money (about 1.13 billion US dollars) to provide a livelihood to those displaced by war, violence and human rights violations. “Due to conflict, climate emergencies and other crises, displaced people around the world are facing unprecedented needs,” Grandi said. “Fortunately, the generous donors of UNHCR have continued to support them during these critical days, which has given them hope for a brighter future,” he said.Xinhua
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