A new record of 110 million people forcibly displaced

June 14, 2023

The world has 110 million people who have been forced to flee their homes, the UN revealed on Wednesday, which sees in this record number an “indictment” against the state of the world.

The recent fighting in Sudan has further aggravated a situation already made extraordinary in 2022 by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Never had the total number of refugees fleeing their country or internally displaced persons reached such a high level, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in its annual report.

At the end of last year, 108.4 million people were displaced or refugees, UNHCR said.

This is 19.1 million more people than at the end of 2021, an unprecedented increase.

And fighting between rival factions in Sudan pushed the total number of refugees and displaced to around 110 million people in May.

“This is where we are today,” said UNHCR boss Filippo Grandi at a press conference in Geneva.

“We have 110 million people who have fled because of conflict, persecution, discrimination and violence, often mixed with other reasons – especially the impact of climate change,” he points out. , lamenting the surge since last year.

“It is an indictment of the state of our world”, judge Mr. Grandi.

Of the 2022 total, 35.3 million people were refugees and 62.5 million displaced.

There were also 5.4 million asylum seekers and 5.2 million others in need of international protection.

All of these people face “a more hostile environment, especially with regard to refugees, almost everywhere”, observes the High Commissioner.

“To be a real leader is to convince your public opinion that there are people who deserve international protection”, he insists.

Three-quarters of refugees flee to low- and middle-income countries.

Grandi hailed the European Union’s recent progress on migration policy reform, calling it a good attempt to balance tensions around these issues and calling it “relatively fair”.

The reform provides for a system of solidarity between Member States in the care of refugees and an accelerated examination of the asylum applications of certain migrants at the borders. It still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament.

For the High Commissioner, we must begin to deal with the flow of migrants seeking to come to Europe much earlier in their long journey.

However, in Europe, the United Kingdom or the United States, “the door must remain open” to asylum seekers.

“Asylum seekers should not be put in prison. Asking for asylum is not a crime”, insists Mr. Grandi, denouncing in particular the plan of London to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. He is also concerned about US policy in this area.

Mr. Grandi acknowledged that the organization he leads “was not in a good financial situation this year”, like many other humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The global economic situation and inflation are wreaking havoc on calls for donations.

Thus, for Sudan, the UNHCR has only 16% of the money it estimates it needs and the figure drops to 13% for aid to refugees, driven out by the explosion of violence in Sudan, in the countries of reception.

Last year, more than 339,000 refugees from 38 countries returned home, while 5.7 million displaced people were able to return home.

The countries hosting the most refugees are Turkey (3.6 million), Iran (3.4 million), Colombia (2.5 million), Germany (2.1 million) and Pakistan ( 1.7 million).