:format(webp)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2023/06/14/wars-and-climate-related-disasters-displaced-more-people-than-ever-unhcr/_2afghan_refugees_fleeing_kabul.jpg)
(UNHCR)
Conflicts, persecution and violence as well as natural disasters related to climate change pushed the world’s displaced population last year to a historic high of 108.4 million people.
The jump of 19 million in the number of displaced people worldwide in 2022 — more than Ontario’s population of 15.4 million — was the largest ever year-by-year surge, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency’s Global Trends Report released on Wednesday.
The bulk of the surge was driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine[1], which forced a total of 11.6 million Ukrainians out of their homes, including 5.9 million who sought safety in their country and another 5.7 million who fled to neighbouring states and beyond.
During the year, 32.6 million people also had to leave their homes and moved somewhere else in their own countries due to natural disasters such as the extensive flooding across Pakistan and in Bangladesh, as well as cyclones, floods and tropical storms in the Philippines and China. Some 8.7 million of them still remained internally displaced by the end of last year.
The upward trend in global displacement[2] has shown no sign of slowing in 2023 with the latest outflows from the conflict in Sudan, which started in April and pushed the global tally to an estimated 110 million by May.
“These figures show us that some people are far too quick to rush to conflict, and way too slow to find solutions,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
“The consequence is devastation, displacement, and anguish for each of the millions of people forcibly uprooted from their homes.”
More than 87 per cent of all people who were refugees at the end of 2022 originated from just 10 countries: Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, South Sudan, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia and the Central African Republic.
About 23.3 million refugees were in protracted situations, which means they have lived in exile in a given low- or middle-income host country for at least five consecutive years. Some of the protracted situations are relatively recent, such as the Venezuelans within Colombia and other countries in the Americas. Others, such as Somali refugees in Kenya, have been in prolonged displacement for decades.Although children only account for 30 per cent of the world’s population, they make up 40 per cent of the displaced people in 2022. New data also estimated that more than 1.9 million children were born as refugees between 2018 and 2022, equivalent to some 385,000 children a year.
With rising global energy and commodity prices, the COVID-19 pandemic[3] has also had a lingering impact on the vulnerable population.
Drastic reductions in household income, the closing of schools and interruption of humanitarian aid have further exposed children to risks of serious human rights violations, such as their recruitment into armed groups and gender-based violence, the 48-page report found.
With international borders reopening, the number of people who fled their homeland to seek asylum abroad also skyrocketed, with the number of worldwide refugee claims up by 68 per cent from 2021 and nearly 30 per cent more than reported in 2019, before the pandemic.
In 2022, almost 2.9 million individual asylum applications were registered in 162 countries. About 71 per cent of new individual applications in 2022 were registered in just 10 countries, including Canada.
The number of asylum-seekers waiting for a decision at the end of 2022 stood at 5.4 million, an increase of 18 per cent from the previous year. Increases in backlogs were greatest in Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., the report said.
On a positive note, 114,300 were resettled to start a new life in another country, double the 57,500 in 2021, representing a return to pre-pandemic levels.
Out of those, 47,600 were welcomed to Canada, including 21,300 Afghans, 7,600 Syrians, 6,100 Eritreans and 2,600 Iraqis.
“People around the world continue to show extraordinary hospitality for refugees as they extend protection and help to those in need, but much more international support and more equitable responsibility sharing is required,” said Grandi, head of the UN Refugee Agency.
“Above all, much more must be done to end conflict and remove obstacles so that refugees have the viable option to return home voluntarily, safely and with dignity.”
Nicholas Keung is a Toronto-based reporter covering immigration for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @nkeung[4][5]JOIN THE CONVERSATION Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)Sign InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the Code of Conduct[6]. The Star does not endorse these opinions.References^ Russian invasion of Ukraine (www.thestar.com)^ global displacement (www.thestar.com)^ COVID-19 pandemic (www.thestar.com)^ Nicholas Keung (www.bing.com)^ @nkeung (twitter.com)^ Code of Conduct (www.thestar.com)
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