UNHCR Report on Refugee Crisis

Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released the “Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2022″ report.

Highlights of Report:

• Global forced Displacement: Number of people displaced around the world has reached a record 110 million.More than one in every 74 people is now displaced. 
  • Number of forcibly displaced people doubled over the past decade.
  • Displacement of Ukrainians was the global fastest since World War II, growing from 27,300 at the end of 2021 to 5.7 million at the end of 2022.
• Disaster related internal displacement accounted for more than half (54 per cent) of all new displacements in 2022.
  • Climate disasters caused 32.6 million internal displacements throughout 2022, with 21 percent occurring in the Least Developed Countries (LDC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
  • In India,  around five million people were internally displaced. The reason cited is due to disasters and climate change in 2021.
• Reason for Displacement: War in Ukraine was the main driver of displacement in 2022.
  • Other Reason: Conflicts in other parts of the world, food scarcity, inflation and climate emergency have contributed to rising displacement globally.
• Refugees: Out of the total number of people displaced, 35.3 million were refugees, or people who crossed an international border to find safety under the mandate of UN agencies.
  • Of the total refugees, about half of them came from just three countries: Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.
• Statelessness: At the end of 2022, an estimated 4.4 million people worldwide were stateless or of undetermined nationality — 2 per cent more than at the end of 2021.
  • Stateless people are those who are not recognised as citizens by any government.
• Asylum Seekers: There were 5.4 million asylum-seekers globally.
  • In 2022, the highest number of new asylum applications ever recorded — 2.6 million — were registered by more than 140 nationalities in 155 countries.
  • The US receive the most new applications in 2022 with 730,400 claims.
  • Applicants Country: Highest  was recorded from Pakistan (28,500), Egypt (27,300) and Libya (20,200).

• Demographic Displacement
  • Children: They accounts for 41 percent of all forcibly displaced people but only making up 30 percent of the world’s population. 
  • More than 1.9 million children were born as refugees between 2018 and 2022 — an estimated 385,000 children per year. 
  • Women and Girls: They represent more than half, or 51 percent, of all refugees forcibly displaced by the end of 2022.
• Unproportionate Burden on neighboring or low- and middle-income countries: At the end of 2022, 70 percent of refugees, including people in refugee-like situations and other people in need of international protection, were hosted by neighboring countries.
  • In 2022, low- and middle-income countries hosted 76 percent of the world’s refugees and other people in need of international protection. 
  • Low-income countries, which have limited resources to adapt to the situation and account for only 0.5 per cent of global gross domestic product, hosted 16 per cent of the refugees.
• Hosting Country: Turkey remained the country hosting the highest number of refugees in the world with 3.6 million refugees, over 10 percent of the total.
• SilverLining: In 2022, the number of refugees resettled in a safe third country doubled to 1,14,300 from the previous year. 
  • However, this accounted for only a fraction of the projected 1.5 million refugees in need of resettlement. For each refugee that returned or was resettled in 2022, there were 16 new refugees.
  • In 2022, 339,300 refugees voluntarily returned to 38 countries of origin, a decrease of 90,000 or 21 percent compared with the previous year.
• India Specific: It points out that around five million people were internally displaced. The reason cited is due to disasters and climate change in 2021.

Way Forward

• DURABLE SOLUTIONS: It means diminishing gradually the needs and vulnerabilities of displacement affected communities, while strengthening their capacities, skills, and increasing their resilience, so that displaced persons can increasingly enjoy their human rights without discrimination based on their displacement.
  • RESETTLEMENT: Resettlement is the organised movement of refugees from refugee camps, urban areas or other temporary situations to a third country, where they can live permanently. 
  • REPATRIATION: It is the return of refugees to their home country, of their own free will, once conditions have become safe. 
  • LOCAL INTEGRATION: It occurs when refugees seek to attain rights similar to those enjoyed by the citizens of the country in which they have sought refuge. It also involves enhancing the resilience and self-reliance of displaced people and their hosts.
• Preventing and resolving conflicts: It requires political will, dialogue, diplomacy, and humanitarian action from all parties involved. 
  • The international community should also support peacebuilding efforts and address the root causes of violence and instability.
• Protecting and Assisting: Providing access to basic services, such as health care, education, water, sanitation, and livelihood opportunities. 
  • It also means respecting their human rights and dignity, and ensuring their safety and security.
• Strengthening international cooperation: Responsibility-sharing among states and other actors through implementing the Global Compact on Refugees, as a framework for more predictable and equitable responses to refugee situations. 
• Addressing the impacts of climate change: It requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the effects of global warming, supporting disaster risk reduction and preparedness, and enhancing the protection of people displaced by environmental factors.
• Involve the private sector: Private sector can be invaluable in helping displaced people recover from a crisis through jobs and infrastructure support.
  • In 2018, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, a network of private-sector actors in that country, provided 3,000 employment offers to people affected by conflict in the Marawi region. 
• Other Efforts: All countries should investigate and prosecute trafficking gangs who exploit refugees and migrants, and put people’s safety above all else.
  • Opening up safe routes to sanctuary for refugees: Allowing people to reunite with their relatives, and giving refugees visas so they don’t have to spend their life savings and risk drowning to reach safety.

Conclusion

• We must act in solidarity and welcome people seeking safety from conflict by increasing humanitarian funding, enhancing partnerships, and fostering brotherhood and compassion.

News Source: UNHCR Report

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