Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – A staggering 100 million people have now been forced to flee their homes globally, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said, highlighting worldwide food insecurity, the climate crisis, war in Ukraine and other emergencies from Africa to Afghanistan as leading causes.
“Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi. “Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue.”
Today, one in every 78 people on earth is displaced; it’s a “dramatic milestone” that few would have expected a decade ago, UNHCR said.
By the end of 2021, the number displaced by war, violence, persecution and human rights abuses stood at 89.3 million, according to the agency’s annual Global Trends report.
That was up eight per cent from 2020 and “well over double the figure of 10 years ago”, the report’s authors said, attributing last year’s increase to numerous escalating conflicts “and new ones that flared”.
The 100 million displaced figure was reached in May, 10 weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted a global cereal and fertilizer shortage from these major exporters that UN humanitarians have reacted to with increasing alarm.
