According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of persons forcibly displaced has now surpassed 84 million worldwide as more people flee conflict, insecurity, and the effects of climate change.
The UNHCR revealed this in its Mid-Year Trends report, which was released on Thursday.
People are fleeing multiple active conflicts around the world, especially in Africa, according to UNHCR’s Mid-Year Trends report, which covers the first six months of 2021. This is up from 82.4 million in December 2020—largely due to internal displacements—with more people fleeing multiple active global conflicts, particularly in Africa.
According to the report, in many places, the COVID-19 border limitations continue to hamper asylum access.
“The global community’s failure to protect violence, discrimination, and human rights breaches that are driving displaced people,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
In the first half of 2021, escalating conflict and violence pushed approximately 51 million people from their homes, with Africa accounting for the majority of the new displacements.
According to the report, 1.3 million people were displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 1.2 million in Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, as a result of the violence in Myanmar and Afghanistan, more people have been forced to flee their homes. During the same period, the number of refugees increased, reaching nearly 21 million in the first half of the year.
The majority of new refugees came from just five countries, according to UNHCR: 71,800 from the Central African Republic; 61,700 from South Sudan; 38,800 from Syria; 25,200 from Afghanistan; and 20,300 from Nigeria.
The high commissioner said the international community must step up its efforts to achieve peace while also ensuring that resources are available to displaced people and their hosts.
Conflict, COVID-19, poverty, food insecurity, and the climate catastrophe have exacerbated the humanitarian predicament of the displaced, who are mostly housed in developing countries.
“The effects of climate change are compounding existing vulnerabilities in many places hosting forcibly displaced people,” the commissioner noted, criticizing the lack of solutions for forcibly displaced people.
In all, less than one million internally displaced people and 126,700 refugees were allowed to return home in the first half of the year.
Mr. Grandi added that “the communities and nations with the fewest resources continue to bear the brunt of the responsibility of safeguarding and caring for the forcibly displaced, and the rest of the international community must do more to support them.”
