UNHCR report: More people than ever on the run

Antje Passenheim
ARD-Studio New York

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Never before has his UN organization counted so many refugees. More than two thirds of the people came from just five countries: Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar – and above all: Syria. Many refugees are displaced in their own country.

“And what’s particularly frightening: 42 percent of these refugees are children,” says Grandi. They needed special protection, especially when crises last for years. Crises that have increased worldwide – “despite Covid. Despite all the Secretary General’s appeals for a global ceasefire. Despite intensified efforts at peace.”

Germany among the strongest receiving countries

Almost nine out of ten refugees find shelter in countries bordering crisis areas. Many of the least developed countries grant asylum to almost a third of all refugees. Most of the refugees are taken in Turkey – followed by Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda and Germany. But it is not enough with refugee camps, warns Grandi. Young people in particular need to be integrated in order to give them the chance of a better life.

Bahati Hategekimana from Rwanda also hoped for such a life. In her asylum country Kenya she fulfilled a lifelong dream and trained as a nurse: “My refugee status was my involuntary companion for 25 years. It was my strength and my weakness at the same time,” she says. “Now I’m proud to be part of a resettlement program.” The young woman will go to Canada as a qualified nurse.

The number of asylum applications has nevertheless fallen

Such programs were made more difficult by the Corona-related travel restrictions. Regardless of this, the US government under Donald Trump had massively cut the places for resettlers to the USA: from 85,000 in the time of his predecessor to 18,000.

US President Joe Biden has already started replenishing these seats. The head of the UN Refugee Agency emphasizes that this is hopeful: “If the pandemic is over and the USA again starts a robust resettlement program, such possible solutions will be given substance again.”

While there are more and more refugees worldwide, the numbers in Germany and Europe have fallen again. With a good 100,000 new asylum applications, the Federal Republic recorded the lowest number for years.