The number of people displaced by conflict has increased again this year around the world, the United Nations Refugee Agency announced on Thursday (November 11th). “The report, which covers the period between January and June 2021, shows an increase compared to the 82.4 million people recorded at the end of 2020 “, explains a press release. These people are refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced persons and their situation is also weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of global warming, according to this semi-annual report.
“The international community is failing to prevent the violence, persecution and human rights abuses that drive these people from their homes.”
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Some 26.5 million people were refugees at the end of June, including 6.6 million Syrians, 5.7 million Palestinians and 2.7 million Afghans, according to the document. Some 3.9 million Venezuelans had left their country without being considered refugees, and 4.4 million people were registered worldwide as asylum seekers.
More than 4.3 million people were internally displaced between January and June, a 50% increase from the same period of 2020, according to the report. Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia has forced more than a million people from their homes inside their countries. The internally displaced were also numerous in Afghanistan, Burma, Mozambique and South Sudan.
Most find refuge in some of the poorest parts of the world. “It is the communities with the fewest resources that bear the burden of having to provide protection and assistance to the displaced”, lamented Filippo Grown up, calling for more international solidarity.