UNHCR: New rise in IDPs in mid-2021

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded a new increase in the number of IDPs in 2021, in the report on the trends of the first half of the year that it publishes today.

In particular, the displaced population exceeded 84 million worldwide in mid-2021, compared to the end of 2020, when 82.4 million were forcibly displaced. As noted, this increase is largely due to internal displacement, as more people have fled due to multiple active conflicts around the world, especially in Africa. The report also notes that border measures due to COVID-19 continued to restrict access to asylum in many parts of the world.

“The international community has failed to prevent the violence, persecution and human rights abuses that continue to drive people away from their homes,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Philippe Grady. “The effects of climate change make existing vulnerabilities difficult in many areas that are home to IDPs.”

Nearly 51 million people are now internally displaced as conflict and violence rage around the world in the first six months of 2021. Much of the new internal displacement has taken place in Africa, as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1, 3 million) and Ethiopia (1.2 million). Violence in Myanmar and Afghanistan has also forced many people to flee their homes between January and June 2021.

The number of refugees also continued to grow in the first half of 2021, reaching almost 21 million. Most of the new refugees came from five countries: the Central African Republic (71,800), South Sudan (61,700), Syria (38,800), Afghanistan (25,200) and Nigeria (20,300).

At the same time, less than one million internally displaced persons and 126,700 refugees were able to return home in the first half of 2021.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ