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A United Nations report found that the number of people forcibly displaced reached its highest level by the end of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated some existing drivers.
In a report released on Friday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) found that by the end of 2020, 82.4 million people had been forcibly displaced around the world – the highest number recorded.
In 2012, it was 41 million, while in 2019 it reached 79.5 million.
As a result, more than 1 percent of the world’s population, or one in 95 people, is now forcibly displaced. This is compared to 159 in 2010.
“The dynamics of poverty, food insecurity, climate change, conflict and displacement are increasingly intertwined and mutually reinforcing as more and more people are encouraged to seek safety and security,” the report found.
The UN has said that reported incidents of conflict and violence have increased in almost half of the world’s countries, albeit down overall in 2020, and “worsened the magnitude and severity of food crises in 2020 as long as conflicts, extreme weather and COVID economic downturns. the existing situation worsened ”.
The number of people seeking asylum in 2020 faced “unprecedented challenges” and although new applications fell by a million, the UN found that the number of refugees worldwide rose from 20.4 million in 2019 to almost 20.7 million by the end of 2020.
About 21,000 assisted or separated children submitted new asylum applications in 2020, up from 25,000 a year earlier.
Of the 10 people displaced across the border, only eight are from 10 countries; The Syrians topped the list with 6.8 million people, followed by the Venezuelans with four million.
Turkey received nearly 3.7 million refugees in 2020, the world’s largest population.
Meanwhile, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is 48 million, the highest level ever recorded.
Colombia continues to report the highest number of displaced people, with 8.3 million internally displaced by the end of 2020.
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration had to halt relocation exits during the early stages of the pandemic for several months, although they then had to start again.
“Because many governments close borders for a long time and restrict internal mobility, only a limited number of refugees and internally displaced people have been able to obtain solutions such as voluntary return or relocation to a third country,” the report found.
Only 34,400 refugees were resettled in third countries, a decrease of 69% compared to 2019, and about 1.4 million refugees would be settled.
Future trends
The outlook for the food crisis for 2021 is “equally worrying,” according to the UN, as countries like South Sudan, Syria and the Central African Republic are at risk of starvation.
It is also expected that the number of people exposed to extreme poverty due to COVID-19 will rise to an unprecedented level – between 119 million and 124 million by 2020 – according to the World Bank.
“Starting from this trajectory, the question is not whether forced relocation will no longer exceed 100 million people – but when,” the UN said.
“Clearly, the need to prevent conflicts and provide displaced people with access to solutions has never been more urgent than ever,” he added.
However, there have been some signs of hope that the report says the U.S. government has announced it will accept more resettled refugees (up from 62,500 in 2021 and 125,000 in 2022).
Colombia also claimed in February that it would provide temporary protection to more than one million Venezuelans.
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