Global number of forcefully displaced reaches 110 million
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in its annual report that, at the end of last year, the number of forcefully displaced people had reached 108.4 million – an increase of 19.1 million over 2021, and the largest ever since it began collecting this figure in 1975.
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia, as well as internal fighting in Sudan, led a spike in displacement, pushing the global total to an estimated 110 million in May.
“We have 110 million people who have fled conflict, persecution, discrimination and violence, often mixed with other drivers, notably the impact of climate change,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told a news conference in Geneva.
The Commissioner described the displacement and asylum crisis that is happening as “an indictment against the state of our world.”
The numbers are likely to increase, with the continuation of international conflicts, as well as climate and food crises.
Of the global total for 2022, the statement added, there were 35.3 million refugees who fled abroad, 62.5 million who were internally displaced, while 5.4 million were asylum seekers. Another 5.2 million people were in need of international protection.
Grandi said this year’s record displacement is increasingly being matched by “a more hostile environment, especially when it comes to refugees, almost everywhere.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees indicated that about 76 percent of refugees fled to low- and middle-income countries, while 70 percent remained in neighboring countries.
While Grandi criticized Britain’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, as well as the strict measures taken by the United States regarding refugees, he welcomed the European Union’s steps towards an agreement on asylum and migration, describing it as a good attempt to balance the tensions surrounding the issue, and “relatively fair” for people on the move.
The European Union is set to pass the most stringent asylum reform in its history. “There are issues of some concern. By and large however, I think it’s a positive step,” Grandi said.
But the door to asylum in the European Union, the United States and Britain “must remain open … people must be able to seek asylum where they feel safe,” he added.