They revealed that by 2021 a record of nearly 60 million internally displaced people has been reached in the world.

Ang Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) revealed in a report they publish annually that conflicts and natural disastersmany of them caused by climate change, caused by 2021 to end on 59.1 million internally displaced people in their countries of origin, a record figure.

“The displacements are increase in size, complexity, severity and duration“, reviewed at a press conference, when the figures were presented, the director of IDMC, Alexandra Bilak.

While his counterpart at the NRC, Jan Egeland, assured that “there is no year where we have statistics that have been as bad as in the past”.

The data shows a deepening of the problem. According to the same study, the number of internally displaced people today is almost double than those registered 10 years ago.

Of the more than 59 million displaced in 2021, 53.2 million were forced to leave their homes due to fighting and violence, an increase of 10 percent from the end of 2020, while 5.9 million did so. due to natural disasters, dropped by 15 percent.

Anyway, that number can be surpassed without major problems this yeardue to the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has so far resulted in approximately 8 million internally displaced people.

In any case, according to England, this is not the only corner of the world that will bring discouraging news. “Things are getting worse not only in Ukraine, but also in other parts of the world where there is now displacement, such as the Horn of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), or Latin America, where there is violence. still. in Colombia or Central America, “reviewed.

“Besides the war in Ukraine made it difficult to help all the refugees, due to its impact on the sharp rise in the price of food, fuel and fertilizers. 2021 will be a sad year, but 2022 will definitely be even worse, ”predicted the NRC secretary general, a former humanitarian coordinator at the UN.

Until the end of last year, the country with the most internally displaced people due to the conflicts, now certainly surpassed by Ukraine, was Syria (6.7 million), followed by the DRC (5.3 million), Colombia (5.2 million) and Afghanistan. (4.4 million).

For the 5.9 million people still affected by natural disasters, 1.4 million are in Afghanistan (affected by severe drought in recent months), 943,000 in China and 700,000 in the Philippines, the three most affected countries.

In the year 2021 there were a total of 23.7 million displacements due to these disasters (especially hurricanes, hurricanes and floods), though in Many cases are preventive evacuations where those affected may go home laterif they are not destroyed by natural disaster.

Data show that Africa accounts for 80 per cent of internally displaced people due to conflict and violence, while more than half of the causes of natural disasters (57%) have occurred in the Asia-Pacific region.

It emphasizes that in some cases conflicts and disasters overlap, as happens with many groups who are forced to leave their homes due to the same factors at the same time in countries such as Somalia, South Sudan, Mozambique. of Burma (Myanmar).

Young people are the majority

The IDMC and NRC report pays special attention this year to displaced youth, because more than half of this group, 33 million, are under 25 years old.

“In Ukraine two-thirds of children have lost their roots, in Yemen the deteriorating condition has left millions of them,” recalled Bilak, who also draws attention to the case of Colombia.

In the South American country, he asserted, the incidence of depression and anxiety among displaced minors is double than in any other society, suicide attempts are four times more frequent, and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder is six. times higher.

The IDMC chief added that it was difficult to assess whether the pandemic had caused more displacement or prolonged it over time, although it certainly “made the lives of displaced people more dangerous, with restrictions on movement. in many countries. “.

A cost to the world of billions

The report estimates that these millions have fled worth $ 21 billion in the worlda particularly heavy price for troubled countries such as Syria, where related losses are estimated to be deducted by 15% from its GDP, or Somalia (10%).

This calculation of internally displaced people does not include the group of refugees, people who have left their country due to conflicts or disasters, which in the middle of last year was estimated at 82 million people, according to statistics published every June by the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).

With information from the AFP and EFE

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