According to the UNHCR, 5.9 million Palestinians live as refugees. This little boy is looking at the damage after an Israeli airstrike on the Jabaliya camp in the Gaza Strip last month. Photo: AP / NTB
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At the turn of the year, more than 82 million people were fleeing war, violence and persecution, and another dismal record was set.
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The number of people forced into migration in search of security has increased every year for the past nine years.
At the turn of the year, almost 82.4 million were on the run, an increase of almost 3 million from the previous year, according to the annual report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
20.7 million were registered as refugees outside the home country by the UNHCR, and Turkey was by far the country that housed the most, 3.7 million.
In Colombia, 1.7 million refugees lived at the turn of the year, and in both Pakistan and Uganda, 1.4 million lived. Germany housed 1.2 million refugees.
6.7 million Syrians and 5.9 million Palestinians lived in exile last year, as did nearly 4 million Venezuelans. 2.6 million Afghans were also on the run, as were 2.2 million from South Sudan and 1.1 million from Myanmar.
—-This little girl is on the run in her home country of Brazil and is now growing up in a camp in Itaguai. According to the UNHCR, 42 percent of all refugees in the world are under 18 years of age. Photo: AP / NTB
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Internally displaced
48 million people were also displaced in their own country, 8.3 million in Colombia alone and 6.7 million in Syria. In the Congo it was 5.2 million internally displaced, in Yemen 4 million, in Somalia 3 million, in Afghanistan 2.9 million, in Ethiopia 2.7 million and in Nigeria and Sudan 2.6 million.
– Behind every single number there is a person who is forced away from home and a story of displacement and suffering. They deserve our attention and support, not only humanitarian aid, but also that we find a solution to their situation, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
He calls for increased political will and efforts to end the many conflicts and persecution that are forcing people to flee.
Born on the run
42 percent of all refugees are boys and girls under 18 years of age. They are particularly vulnerable, especially when the crises that have forced them to migrate last for years, the UNHCR states.
Nearly 1 million children were born to parents who were on the run last year, and many of them will also have to grow up on the run.
– This tragedy, where so many children are born as refugees, should be a good enough reason to do more to prevent and end violence and conflicts, Grandi says.
—-160 countries closed the borders at the height of the corona pandemic last year, 99 of them also for asylum seekers, no matter what desperate conditions they had fled from. These men are in a refugee camp in Vathy on the Greek island of Samos. Photo: AP / NTB
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Closed borders
The corona pandemic has made it even worse for the world’s refugees, and 160 countries closed their borders last year when the pandemic was at its worst.
The UNHCR had registered 4.1 million asylum seekers by the end of 2020, but 99 countries made no exception for them last year, no matter what desperate situation they may have fled from.
More and more countries have since changed practices, introduced border testing, vaccine certificates and temporary quarantine on arrival.
—-The number of refugees in the world has increased steadily over the past nine years, and the number of refugees who took the chance to return home fell sharply last year. This woman and her children live in the Karatepe refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos. Photo: AP / NTB
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Few returned home
The statistics on how many refugees and internally displaced people could return home in 2020 are also disappointing reading.
Only 251,000 refugees found it safe to return, a decrease of 21 percent from the previous year. 3.2 million internally displaced people took the chance to return home, but there was a decrease of as much as 40 percent from the previous year, the report from UNHCR shows.
33,800 were granted citizenship in countries where they had applied for asylum, while 34,400 were transferred to another country than they had applied for asylum in. This was the lowest number in 20 years, for which the pandemic is mostly to blame.
“Solutions require that world leaders and those in power put inequality, put an end to selfishness in politics and instead focus on avoiding conflicts, resolving conflicts and ensuring that human rights are respected,” says Grandi.
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