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Agence France-Presse

A staggering total of 120 million people are living forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution, the UN said on Thursday, branding the ever-increasing number a “terrible indictment on the state of the world”.
The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR said 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.
The global displaced population is now equivalent to that of Japan, it pointed out in a statement.
“Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi told reporters.

At the end of last year, 117.3 million people were displaced, UNHCR said in a report.
And by the end of April, the number had swollen further, with an estimated 120 million people around the world 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.
Grandi said he had been shocked at the high displacement figure when he took the job eight years ago.
Since then it has “more than doubled”, he said, describing this as “a terrible indictment on the state of the world”.
Grandi pointed to a palpable increase in crises, and also highlighted how climate change is impacting population movement and driving conflicts.
UNHCR last year declared 43 emergencies across 29 countries – more than four times what was common just a few years ago, he told reporters.
In particular, Grandi noted “the way conflicts are conducted … in complete disregard” of international law, and “often with the specific purpose of terrorising people”.

“This of course is a powerful contributor to more displacement.”
Grandi acknowledged there currently seemed to be little hope of bucking the trend.
“Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see the figure continuing to go up,” he said.
Of the 117.3 million displaced at the end of 2023, 68.3 million people were internally displaced within their own country, Thursday’s report showed.
The number of refugees and others in need of international protection meanwhile climbed to 43.4 million, it said.
UNHCR countered the perception that all refugees and other migrants go to wealthy countries.
“The vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighbouring their own, with 75 per cent residing in low- and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20 per cent of the world’s income,” it said.
Sudan’s civil war has been a key factor driving up the numbers.

Since the war broke out in April 2023 between rival generals, it has displaced more than nine million more people, leaving nearly 11 million Sudanese uprooted at the end of 2023, UNHCR said.
The numbers were still rising.
Grandi pointed to the many still fleeing to neighbouring Chad, which has received some 600,000 Sudanese in the past 14 months.
“Hundreds and hundreds every day are crossing from one devastated country to one of the poorest countries in the world,” he said.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, millions more people were also internally displaced last year by vicious fighting.
And in the Gaza Strip, the UN estimates 1.7 million people – 75 per cent of the population – have been displaced by the war sparked eight months ago by Hamas’s October 7 attack inside Israel.
As for the war raging in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN estimated that around 750,000 people became newly displaced inside the country last year, with a total of 3.7 million internally displaced people registered by the end of 2023.
The number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers increased by over 275,000 to six million, it said.
Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million people forcibly displaced inside and outside the country, UNHCR said.


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United Nations

UN says record 120 million people forcibly displaced globally

In Gaza, the UN estimates 1.7 million people - 75 per cent of the population - have been displaced by war. Photo: Reuters

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi. Photo: AP

The conflicts that have driven displacement include the war in Sudan. Photo: AFP

Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million people forcibly displaced inside and outside the country. Photo: AP

Violence against children in war reached extreme levels in 2023, including Gaza: UN

Palestinian children wounded in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza on June 4, 2024. Photo: AP

Cars and a stroller near the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Aza, after an attack by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. File photo: AFP

A damaged tank in Omdurman, Sudan. File photo: Reuters

A youth riding school heavily damaged by Russian missile strikes outside of Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. File photo: dpa

UK sends first asylum seeker to Rwanda under voluntary scheme

Migrants wave to a smuggler’s boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel from a beach in northern France on Friday. Photo: AFP

Campaigners protest against the British government’s Rwanda deportation scheme in London on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A bedroom at Hope Hostel, in Kigali, Rwanda, which will accommodate UK asylum seekers. Photo: AP

Rohingya crisis in Indonesia a ‘ticking time bomb’ if political indifference, misinformation continue: analysts

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees rest at the former Red Cross Indonesia office building in Meulaboh, West Aceh, on March 22. Photo: AFP

Rohingya refugees rest in a temporary shelter at the Indonesian Red Cross Office, after being evacuated from the sea at Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

Rohingya refugees rest at the temporary shelter in Suak Nie village following their arrival in the waters of West Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on March 22. Photo: Antara Foto via Reuters

Rohingya refugees are seen on a capsized boat before being rescued in the waters of West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 21. Photo: Reuters

Members of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas search for missing Rohingya refugees in the sea near Calang, West Aceh, on March 23. Photo: AFP

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees receive bread at their shelter in Meulaboh, West Aceh, on March 23. Photo: AFP

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees receive medical treatment at their shelter in Meulaboh, West Aceh, on March 22. Photo: AFP

Locals donate used clothes for Rohingya refugees staying in a temporary shelter at the Indonesian Red Cross Office, after being evacuated from the sea at Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

UK gives date for first Rwanda asylum seekers’ deportation flights

The British government says it intends to begin deporting asylum seekers on July 23, court documents showed on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Migrants, picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel, are helped ashore on the southeast coast of England. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sought to deport migrants thousands of miles away to Rwanda. Photo: AFP

EU parliament adopts sweeping asylum reform

Rescued refugees and migrants stand on a boat at the town of Paleochora, southwestern Crete, in November 2022. Photo: AFP

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola (left), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (centre) and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo give a joint statement following the adoption of the Migration and Asylum package in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A woman waves a flag as human rights activists protest outside the European Parliament in Brussels before a vote on the EU’s Pact on Asylum and Migration on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Members of European Parliament take part in a series of votes during a plenary session in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Africa

Middle East

Number of people forcibly displaced is up from 110 million a year ago, largely driven by the civil war in Sudan


The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR said conflicts in places like Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar have forced even more people to flee their homes.


War and conflict

Human rights

UN says record 120 million people forcibly displaced globally

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Number of people forcibly displaced is up from 110 million a year ago, largely driven by the civil war in Sudan

Number of people forcibly displaced is up from 110 million a year ago, largely driven by the civil war in Sudan