A staggering total of 120 million people are living forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution, the United Nations has said, branding the increasing number a “terrible indictment on the state of the world”. Source: SBS News.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said in a report released yesterday that forced displacement globally had once again smashed records, with conflicts in places like Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar forcing even more people to flee their homes.
“Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi told reporters.
In Gaza, Israel’s bombardment and ground campaign sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack have caused around 1.7 million people – nearly 80 per cent of the Palestinian enclave’s population – to become internally displaced, many of them multiple times.
Mr Grandi warned that the possible crossings of Gazans into Egypt from the southern border town of Rafah to escape Israel’s military offensive would be catastrophic.
“Another refugee crisis outside Gaza would be catastrophic on all levels, including because we have no guarantee that the people will be able to return to Gaza one day,” Mr Grandi said.
At the end of last year, 117.3 million people were displaced, UNHCR said.
By the end of April, the number had swelled further to an estimated 120 million people worldwide living in displacement.
The number is up from 110 million a year ago, and has been rising for 12 consecutive years — nearly tripling since 2012 amid a combination of new and mutating crises and a failure to resolve long-standing ones, UNHCR said.
Of the 117.3 million displaced at the end of 2023, 68.3 million people were internally displaced within their own country, the report showed.
The number of refugees and others in need of international protection, meanwhile, climbed to 43.4 million, it said.
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From Gaza to Sudan: UN says a record 120 million people forcibly displaced globally (SBS News)
