The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts have pushed the number of people displaced by violence worldwide to more than 100 million for the first time on record. This was announced by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Geneva on Monday.
“One hundred million is a blatant number – sobering and alarming at the same time. It’s a record that should never have been,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. The number is a wake-up call that conflicts must be resolved and prevented.
According to new information from the UNHCR, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide had already risen to 90 million by the end of 2021. The reason for this was, among other things, waves of violence or conflicts in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition, the war in Ukraine this year has displaced eight million people within the country and more than six million have fled Ukraine.
The number of forcibly displaced persons reportedly includes refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as the 53.2 million people who had to leave their homes within the borders of their countries.
