GENEVA: A record 110 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced from their homes, the United Nations said on Wednesday, branding the huge upsurge an “indictment” of the world.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said refugees fleeing Afghanistan, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the fighting in Sudan and other factors such as climate change have pushed the total number of refugees to seek shelter abroad, and those displaced within their own countries, to an unprecedented level.

At the end of last year, 108.4 million people had been displaced, the UNHCR said in its flagship annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement.

Since then, the eruption of the conflict in Sudan has triggered further displacement, pushing the global total to an estimated 110 million by May. “We have 110 million people that have fled because of conflict, persecution, discrimination and violence, often mixed with other motives — in particular the impact of climate change,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told a press conference in Geneva.

“It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world,” he said.

Last year’s number was up 19.1m from the end of 2021 — the biggest-ever increase since the records began back in 1975.

Numbers likely to rise

Of the 2022 global total, 35.3m were refugees who fled abroad, with 62.5m being internally displaced. There were 5.4m asylum-seekers and a further 5.2m other people — predominantly from Venezuela — needing international protection.

“My fear is that the figure is likely to increase more,” said Mr Grandi, adding that the swelling displacement this year was being increasingly met with “a more hostile environment, especially when it comes to refugees, almost everywhere”.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees noted that around 76 per cent of refugees fled to low- and middle-income countries, while 70pc stayed in neighbouring countries.

The countries hosting the most refugees are Turkiye (3.6m), Iran (3.4m), Colombia (2.5m), Germany (2.1m) and Pakistan (1.7m).

Seeking asylum is not a crime

Mr Grandi said Britain’s plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda for adjudication was “not a good idea”. He said the US case was more complex, but added: “We are worried… about denial of access to asylum in the United States”.

The door to asylum in the EU, the US and Britain “needs to remain open… People need to be able to seek asylum where they feel safe.” He added: “Asylum seekers should not be put in jail. Seeking asylum is not a crime.”

Mr Grandi pleaded for urgent global action to alleviate the causes and impact of displacement, saying UNHCR was “not in a good financial situation this year”.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2023