New York, 23 May 2022 (TDI): The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, shared that 100 million people were forcibly displaced due to violence, conflict, and human rights violations, and persecution due to the Ukraine war and other conflicts worldwide, on Sunday.
This figure is equivalent to 1% of the total global population.
Due to internal conflicts in the Horns of Africa, the number of forcibly displaced people is expected to reach 90 million by the end of 2021. New waves of violence and conflict recurrently emerged in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier, The Russia-Ukraine conflict displaced six million people from the country, whereas eight million people were internally displaced in Ukraine. The number also includes refugees, asylum seekers, and 53.2 million people displaced due to conflict.
Meanwhile, the other cases of internal displacement include climate change threats and extreme weather events, including storms, floods, and cyclones. 23.7 million people from Asia and the Pacific region were internally displaced due to these events in 2021.
“One hundred million is a stark figure, sobering and alarming. It’s a record that should never have been set,” Underscored UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
He regarded these statistics as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destruction due to conflicts, address the causes which result in the displacement of innocent people, and end the persecution.
Response by the international community
Grandi said that the response by the international community to the displaced people in Ukraine has been overwhelmingly positive. He commended these compassionate measures and urged the need for similar mobilization for all crises worldwide. Also, he highlighted that innocent people are forced to gamble between “acute danger at home or precarious flight and exile.” While talking about humanitarian aid, Grandi said it’s palliative but not a cure. He emphasized the global need for peace and stability to reverse this trend.
Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) informed that 59.1 million people will be displaced within homelands in 2021. This alarming number is four million more than in 2020. Similarly, conflict and violence resulted in 14.4 million displacements in 2021. This number has increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
