The United Nations reported on Thursday that the total number of refugees and displaced people who were forced to leave their homes due to wars, violence and persecution at the end of last April reached 120 million people around the world, a record number that keeps increasing and represents a “terrible indictment of the state of the world.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees indicated in a statement that forced displacement throughout the world rose for the twelfth year in a row to a record level, as the conflicts and wars raging in several places such as Gaza, Sudan and Burma forced more people to flee their homes. She added that the number of refugees and displaced people around the world is now equivalent to the population of Japan.
The UNHCR said in a report that at the end of last year, the number of refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world reached about 117.3 million people. She added that less than four months after that date, the number had increased further to reach 120 million people. The number had also increased from 110 million refugees and displaced persons a year ago, and over the last twelve years this number had nearly tripled.
For his part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, told reporters that the war “remains a very large driver of mass displacement.” He added that he was shocked by the large number of refugees and displaced people when he took office eight years ago, and since then the number has “doubled,” describing this reality as “a terrible indictment of the state of the world.”
Highly distressing.
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