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Migrant numbers are rising: conflict, climate and harassment are forcing tens of millions to leave their homes

Migrant numbers are rising: conflict, climate and harassment are forcing tens of millions to leave their homes

THE number of forcibly displaced people increased to 108 million in 2022 and is expected to reach 117 million by the end of 2023, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Of these, just over 60 million were internally displaced – people who have been forced to leave their homes but have not crossed their (internationally recognised) borders. Almost 30 million were refugees outside their country of origin. The remainder were asylum seekers, stateless persons, returnees and persons in need of international protection. BORJA SANTOS PORRAS, Director Ejecutivo - IE School of Global and Public Affairs, IE University UNHCR…
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Over 1 million may flee Sudan conflict, UN refugee agency says

Over 1 million may flee Sudan conflict, UN refugee agency says

THE U.N. refugee agency warned that an earlier projection that conflict in Sudan would prompt 1 million people to flee across its borders is likely to be surpassed. So far, the conflict between warring military factions that began in mid-April has caused nearly 600,000 people to escape into neighbouring countries including Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and Central African Republic. "Unfortunately, looking at the trends, looking at the situation in Darfur, we're likely to go beyond 1 million," Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, said in response to a question about its estimate in April for the coming six…
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Global level of forced displacement climbs to record 110 million, UN says

Global level of forced displacement climbs to record 110 million, UN says

THE number of people forcibly displaced around the world has climbed to a record 110 million people, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said, with conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan spurring millions of people to flee their homes. The increase of around 19 million people to 108.4 million by the end of last year is the biggest annual jump on record, UNHCR said in a report released on Wednesday. That number has since risen further to 110 million, mostly due to Sudan's eight-week-old conflict, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told journalists. "It's quite an indictment…
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UN refugee agency ‘greatly alarmed’ over mass displacement in Congo conflict

UN refugee agency ‘greatly alarmed’ over mass displacement in Congo conflict

THE U.N. Refugee Agency said it was "greatly alarmed" by clashes between government forces and armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that had caused hundreds of thousands to flee. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said the violence had prompted nearly 300,000 people to flee across Rutshuru and Masisi territories of DRC's North Kivu Province in February. "Civilians continue to pay the heavy and bloody price of conflict, including women and children who barely escaped the violence and are now sleeping out in the open air in spontaneous or organised sites, exhausted and traumatised,"…
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A tale of two refugee crises

A tale of two refugee crises

RACHAEL REILLY and MICHAEL FLYNN RUSSIA's brutal and devastating invasion of Ukraine has triggered the largest and fastest refugee movement in Europe since World War II. After only a single week, more than one million people had already fled the country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) initially predicted that as many as four million people would flee; the UN now thinks that some 10 million will eventually be displaced. While the EU calls this the largest humanitarian crisis that Europe has witnessed in “many, many years,” it is important to remember that it was not so long ago that the…
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Eritrean refugees protest in camps

Eritrean refugees protest in camps

DAWIT ENDESHAW and AYENAT MERSIE HUNDREDS of Eritrean refugees protested in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday, calling on the United Nations refugee agency to relocate friends and family who they say are trapped in two refugee camps by fighting in the Tigray region. Clashes between armed groups have escalated in and around the camps - Mai Aini and Adi Harush - and two refugees have been killed this month, the UNHCR said this week. The agency said it lost access to the camps on July 14. The United States said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned about the fate of…
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Food, water running out in Tigray refugee camps – UN

Food, water running out in Tigray refugee camps – UN

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY SOME 24,000 Eritrean refugees are trapped in two camps in Ethiopia's Tigray region, cut off from humanitarian aid, and their food rations may have run out, according to the United Nations. Appealing for access to the Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps, the U.N. refugee agency said there was "a real danger of hunger" if the refugees did not receive supplies. Fighting that began between the Ethiopian central government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) last November has escalated in and around the camps, and two refugees have been killed this month, it said. "The last food…
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UN alarmed at Tigray detentions

UN alarmed at Tigray detentions

THE United Nations refugee agency voiced deep concern at reports of soldiers taking hundreds of people away from displacement camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week, saying such sites should be a safe haven. Three aid workers and a doctor told Reuters this week that Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers forcibly detained more than 500 young men and women from four camps for displaced people in the town of Shire in the northern region on Monday night. "We reiterate our call on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians including the forcibly displaced. It is crucial that…
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‘Armed attacks displaced over 17,500 in past 10 days’

‘Armed attacks displaced over 17,500 in past 10 days’

MORE than 17,500 people in Burkina Faso have been forcefully displaced from their homes in the past 10 days due to a series of attacks by unidentified armed groups that have killed 45 people, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Attacks by jihadist armed groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State in the West African Sahel region have been rising sharply since the start of the year, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, with civilians bearing the brunt. The UNHCR report said gunmen had carried out a series of attacks in three separate regions, burning down…
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Kenya to shut two camps with 410 000 refugees

Kenya to shut two camps with 410 000 refugees

KENYA has told the United Nations it will shut by June 2022 two camps holding over 430,000 refugees who fled from wars in the east and Horn of Africa, adding it planned to repatriate some and give others residency. The interior ministry made the announcement on Twitter about five weeks after ordering the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps and giving the United Nations two weeks to present a plan to carry this out. Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi met on Thursday in Nairobi and a joint team will be formed…
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