Amid all the data, a number of key realities stand out – realities that highlight much about the world today.
According to the latest figures from the UN, the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has now exceeded a record of 114 million. This figure confirms an overall upward trend in recent years.
Sadly, while representing 30% of the world’s population, children account for 41% of those forcibly displaced while women and girls some 51%.
Almost one-third of all these displaced people originate from just three countries: Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, countries currently characterised by intense violence, conflict and/or crisis. Some 87% come from just 10 countries, illustrating the very focused nature of the issue. Some 4.4 million are classified internationally as ‘stateless’ or of ‘undetermined nationality’.
Contrary to much popular but badly informed public opinion, 75% of refugees and those needing international protection are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. The countries hosting most refugees are Iran and Turkey, with 3.4 million each; Germany and Colombia with 2.5 million each; and Pakistan with 2.1 million.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the key drivers of the agenda in 2023 to date (without inclusion of the latest data from Gaza and Israel) included ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Alongside was the ongoing and now prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and a lethal mix of drought, floods and general insecurity in Somalia.
Almost half of Syria’s total population remained displaced in mid-2023: 6.7 million people within the country itself and 6.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers, with most currently hosted in Turkey.
None of this should come as a surprise to anyone with a basic knowledge of these persistent trends and patterns. While our current focus is understandably on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, conflicts continue to escalate with increasingly devastating consequences for those directly impacted.
As of mid-2023, there were 35.8 million refugees who had fled abroad, while 57 million became classified as internally displaced persons. Additional millions have become asylum seekers or those in need of international protection for many reasons.
In commenting on the latest trends, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the telling comment that, while many are quick to rush to conflict (or to tacitly support it), the world remains “way too slow” in finding solutions. In human terms, the consequences are devastation, displacement and individual family and community anguish.
UNHCR also highlights the reality that most of those forced to flee want to return home and most (some 70%) choose to stay as close as possible to their home. However, their return home can only be achieved when there is both basic human dignity and security.
For most of those displaced in 2022, this reality remained beyond reach, with just 339,000 refugees reported to have returned home. The result – for every refugee that was enabled to return home last year, 22 others were forced by circumstances to become refugees.
In its reporting of the patterns and trends, UNHCR has been forthright in its identification of immediate and longer-term solutions – refugee returns in circumstances, refugee resettlement and refugee local integration. Within that, UNHCR also highlights the need for access to documentation, adequate standards of living and access to livelihoods.
None of this (including more effective and engaged conflict resolution) is beyond the capacity of the international community should it choose to effectively respond.