Conflicts and natural disasters forced millions of people to flee their home countries last year, bringing the total number of displaced people to a record close to 60 million, according to a study published Thursday by NGOs.
Conflicts and natural disasters forced millions of people to flee their home countries last year, bringing the total number of displaced people to a record close to 60 million, according to a study published today by NGOs.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the number of internally displaced people in 2021 is 59.1 million, nearly half of whom are under the age of 18.
This number, which does not take into account refugees abroad, continues to increase each year. A new record will be set in 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24.
This will be the second-highest number in the last decade, after 2020, when a record number of displacements occurred due to a series of natural disasters. IDMC director Alexandra Bilak warned at a press conference that “2022 is likely to be a dark year,” especially with the war in Ukraine.
According to the UN, more than 8 million people were displaced in Ukraine nearly two months after Russia invaded the country. “The world is collapsing”, says NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland, that this phenomenon has “never been so bad”.
“The situation today is actually much worse than our record numbers show. This is the pinnacle of human suffering,” he said.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Last year, sub-Saharan Africa was the region with the highest internal displacement. In Ethiopia alone, more than 5 million displaced people have been registered in a country that is experiencing a severe drought and conflict erupted in the Tigray region in late 2020. This is the highest number ever recorded in a single country.
Last year, unprecedented numbers were also recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Afghanistan, where the return of the Taliban to power has forced many people to flee their homes with drought.
The number of people displaced in Myanmar, which came to power after the military coup in February 2021, reached a record level.
The Middle East and North Africa recorded the lowest number of new displacements in a decade as conflicts in Syria, Libya and Iraq waned. However, the overall number of displaced persons in the region remains high.
Syria continued to register the largest number of internally displaced people due to the conflict, i.e. 6.7 million at the end of 2021. Next comes the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.3 million) and Colombia (5.2 million), in addition to Afghanistan. Yemen (4.3 million each).
Natural disasters
While the number of people displaced by conflict continues to increase, natural disasters remain the main reason people are forced to leave their homes (23.7 million out of 21.2).
At least 94% of these displacements were attributed to weather disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts, which have become more frequent and intense due to climate change. China, the Philippines and India recorded 70% of internal displacement associated with natural disasters in 2021.
“Conflict and natural disasters are increasingly going hand in hand,” Egeland said.
In countries such as Mozambique, Myanmar, Somalia and South Sudan, crises are overlapping, affecting food security and increasing the vulnerability of millions of people.
source: Noticias
