INTERNATIONAL- MIGRATION: A record 120 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.
June 13, 2024
Geneva, Switzerland
There were a record 120 million forcibly displaced people in the world at the end of April 2024, a number that continues to rise and “a terrible indictment of the state of the world”, denounced the UN on Thursday June 13.
This figure is equivalent to the population of Japan.
The wars in Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have contributed significantly to the increase in the number of people forced to flee their homes over the past year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its annual report.
“War remains the main driver of massive displacement,” explained UNHCR head Filippo Grandi at a press briefing in Geneva.
At the end of last year, 117.3 million people were displaced.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his dismay at these terrible figures.
“Forced displacement is a consequence of the failure to maintain peace and security. It is a political crisis that world leaders must resolve together”, he posted on X.

– More and more –

Around the world, crises are multiplying, and climate change is further fanning the embers of conflict.
Last year, UNHCR declared 43 emergencies in 29 countries, more than four times the number that was the norm just a few years ago, insisted Mr. Grandi.
He deplored “the way in which conflicts are conducted… in total disregard” of international law, and “often with the specific aim of terrorizing populations”, which “of course” contributes to further reinforcing the phenomenon.
Filippo Grandi acknowledged that there currently seemed little hope of reversing the trend: “Unless there is a change in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I see this figure continuing to rise,” he declared.
Of the global total for 2023, 68.3 million people were internally displaced, according to the report published on Thursday.
The number of refugees and others in need of international protection climbed to 43.4 million, according to the release.
The agency tried once again to refute the – false – perception that all refugees and other migrants are heading for wealthy countries.
“The vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighboring their own, with 75% residing in low- and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20% of global income,” the report states.

– From war-torn to impoverished –

The civil war raging in Sudan since April 2023 has resulted in the displacement of more than nine million additional people, leaving almost 11 million uprooted Sudanese by the end of 2023, UNHCR has reported.
And the figures continue to rise. Mr. Grandi pointed out that many people continue to flee to neighboring Chad, which has taken in some 600,000 Sudanese over the past 14 months.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people are crossing a devastated country every day to go to one of the poorest countries in the world,” he said. In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma, millions more people have also been displaced in the past year by violent fighting.
And in the Gaza Strip, the UN estimates that 1.7 million people – 75% of the population – have been displaced since the war launched on October 07, 2023.
In Ukraine, some 750,000 people were newly internally displaced last year, with a total of 3.7 million IDPs registered by the end of 2023.
And the number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers rose by more than 275,000 to six million, according to the statement.
Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million people still forcibly displaced inside and outside the country, UNHCR said.

HUMANITERRE with AFP