UN warns of record number of forcibly displaced people around the world

More than 114 million people are currently forcibly displaced around the world, a record number, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported on Wednesday October 25. These movements are linked to “war, persecution, violence and human rights violations”detailed the agency in a press release.

This estimate ends in September 2023. It therefore does not take into account the 1.4 million Palestinians displaced, according to the UN, inside the Gaza Strip since October 7 and the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

In the first half of 2023, population displacements were mainly caused by conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Burma and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and a mix of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia. More than half of the displaced people were forced to cross a border, the agency said. Three countries – Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine – also provide almost a third of the world’s displaced people.