UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today appealing to countries worldwide to do far more to find homes for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict, persecution or events seriously disturbing public order. This is as a report released today showed that forced displacement is now affecting more than […]
Malian refugees gather at an aid distribution point in Goudoubo camp, Burkina Faso, 3 February 2020. © UNHCR/Sylvain Cherkaoui
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today appealing to countries worldwide to do far more to find homes for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict, persecution or events seriously disturbing public order. This is as a report released today showed that forced displacement is now affecting more than one per cent of humanity – 1 in every 97 people – and with fewer and fewer of those who flee being able to return home.
UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, which comes two days ahead of 20 June World Refugee Day, shows that an unprecedented 79.5 million were displaced as of the end of 2019. UNHCR has not seen a higher total.
The report also notes diminishing prospects for refugees when it comes to hopes of any quick end to their plight. In the 1990s, on average 1.5 million refugees were able to return home each year.
In the Philippines, the number of UNHCR’s persons of concern stood at 425,143 by end-2019, an overwhelming majority of them internally displaced within the country.
“We are witnessing a changed reality in that forced displacement nowadays is not only vastly more widespread but is simply no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “People cannot be expected to live in a state of upheaval for years on end, without a chance of going home, nor a hope of building a future where they are. We need a fundamentally new and more accepting attitude towards all who flee, coupled with a much more determined drive to unlock conflicts that go on for years and that are at the root of such immense suffering.”
UNHCR’s Global Trends report shows that of the 79.5 million who were displaced at the end of last year, 45.7 million were people who had fled to other areas of their own countries. The rest were people displaced elsewhere, 4.2 million of them being people awaiting the outcome of asylum requests, while 29.6 million were refugees and others forcibly displaced outside their country.
The annual increase, from a figure of 70.8 million at the end of 2018, is a result of two main factors. First is worrying new displacement in 2019, particularly in Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sahel, Yemen and Syria – the latter now in its tenth year of conflict and accounting on its own for 13.2 million refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people, fully a sixth of the world’s total.
Second is a better presentation of the situation of Venezuelans outside their country, many of whom are not legally registered as refugees or asylum-seekers, but for whom protection-sensitive arrangements are required.
And within all of these numbers is a multitude of individual and very personal crises. As many children (estimated at 30-34 million, tens of thousands of them unaccompanied) are among the displaced than, for example, the entire populations of Australia, Denmark and Mongolia combined. Meanwhile, the proportion of displaced aged 60 and above (4 per cent) is far below that of the world population (12 per cent) – a statistic that speaks to immeasurable heartbreak, desperation, sacrifice and being torn apart from loved ones.
World Refugee Day
Every year on June 20th, UNHCR commemorates World Refugee Day honouring the resilience and courage of millions of people who have been forced to flee war, persecution and violence.
In commemoration of World Refugee Day this year, UNHCR Philippines holds a special online screening of “An Open Door: Holocaust Haven in the Philippines” by director Noel “Sonny” Izon and historian Sharon Delmendo. An Open Door delves into the stories of Jewish refugees who escaped the Holocaust and found refuge in the Philippines through President Manuel Quezon’s then-daring Open-Door Policy. This act of kindness would open even more doors for refugees in search of protection in Philippine shores through the years.
Internationally the film has garnered praise for its inspiring narrative, and has been shown at the United Nations headquarters in New York in observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January this year.
Following the screening, UNHCR Philippines Goodwill Ambassador and broadcast journalist Atom Araullo leads an esteemed discussion panel to further expound on our country’s legacy of acceptance and generosity from different perspectives, and weigh in our current efforts to alleviate today’s refugee crisis on a global and local scale.
This World Refugee Day, as we face unprecedented displacement figures, a global health crisis, and the fight for a more just, fair, and inclusive world, UNHCR Philippines begins a conversation about refugees past and present, and what everyday citizens can do to help—reminding every Filipino that even small acts of kindness can extend across countries, past borders, and through generations.
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8 things you need to know about forced displacement today
Note:
UNHCR’s Global Trends report is released in parallel with its annual Global Report, which reports on actions UNHCR is taking to address the needs of all who are forced to flee, as well as the world’s known stateless populations.
For additional information:
UNHCR’s Global Trends report and an accompanying package of multimedia assets are available on our media page. The report is subject to a worldwide embargo of no use before 0500 GMT on 18 June 2020.
For more information on this topic, please contact:
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Media contacts – worldwide
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