The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says global displacements rose by 4% last year as people continued to flee wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
A new report released in Geneva on Friday ahead of World Refugee Day shows that 82.4 million people were displaced last year up from 79.5 million at the end of 2019.
According to this year’s UNHCR Global Trends report, 6% of refugees worldwide are hosted in developing countries.
Global Forced displacements have risen for nine consecutive years, as per the report, which also indicates that today 1% of humanity is displaced and there are twice as many forcibly displaced people than in 2011 when the total was just under 40 million.
The pandemic stopped life as we know but it didn’t stop families fleeing their homes. More than 82 million people are now displaced. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that we must stand together and leave no one behind – including @refugees. ?pic.twitter.com/b6AR0jfOaM
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) June 20, 2021
Africa hosts nearly 6.6 million refugees, 4.5 million of whom are in the East, Horn of Africa, and Great Lakes region.
Uganda and Sudan each host at least 1 million refugees, with Ethiopia following closely at 800 000 people.
Uganda is one of the top five refugee-hosting countries globally.
Neighboring South Sudan is the fourth highest refugee-producing country in the world with 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees in mainly Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
Six out of the 10 highest refugee-producing countries are in Africa.
The report further states that driven by crises, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan were among the countries that registered the highest number of internally displaced (IDPs) globally, with a total of 2 million people newly displaced in 2020.
UNHCR warns that despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and calls for a global ceasefire, conflict continued to force people from their homes as well impacts of climate change such as floods and droughts.
More than two-thirds of all people who fled abroad came from just five countries: Syria Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar.
The report also notes that at the peak of the pandemic in 2020, over 160 countries had closed their borders, with 99 States making no exception for people seeking protection.
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