A Year of Turmoil: Conflicts, Crises and Displacement in 2024
A Year of Turmoil: Conflicts, Crises and Displacement in 2024
That number has undoubtedly risen further with the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and the hundreds of thousands who continue to flee violence in Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere. While new displacement is on the rise, millions of people are trapped in situations of prolonged exile – unable to safely return home but lacking the possibility to rebuild their lives in the places they have fled to. Solutions are urgently needed – solutions to end conflicts, but also solutions that would give refugees and other forcibly displaced people the chance to contribute to their new communities.
Below is a snapshot of some of the most critical situations that the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has responded to in 2024, and some of the positive developments that emerged amid the upheaval.
Sudan conflict
The war and bloodshed in Sudan have continued unabated, causing unimaginable suffering and driving an exodus that now amounts to one of the largest displacement crises globally, even as the world has largely looked away.
Since the outbreak of fighting in April 2023, more than 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes. This includes over 3 million people who have fled into neighbouring countries and 8.4 million individuals displaced within Sudan. The conflict has had a devastating impact on food security, with over half the population now facing acute hunger. People are arriving in desperate need to neighbouring countries, including Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, where national health, education and social services are buckling under the strain and funding from the international community is insufficient to bridge the gap.
The rainy season worsened already dire conditions in overcrowded camps both inside Sudan and in Chad and South Sudan, where widespread flooding contributed to outbreaks of cholera and malaria. In 2025, if peace efforts fail and the war rages on, the number of people forced to flee is projected to reach over 16 million, a number that would challenge efforts to meet even the most basic humanitarian needs.
Emergency in Lebanon
Starting in late September, intensified Israeli airstrikes hit dozens of towns across Lebanon, killing thousands of people and displacing nearly 900,000 inside the country. Another 557,000 people crossed into Syria, most of them Syrians who had made the reverse journey to Lebanon in search of safety years before.
Following a fragile ceasefire that came into effect on 27 November, many displaced people have started to return to southern Lebanon, but more than two months of attacks have reduced many areas to rubble and rebuilding could take years.
UNHCR and its UN and NGO partners are providing emergency aid and winter kits to displaced people and returnees in Lebanon, but significantly more funding is needed. UNHCR has repeatedly called for lasting ceasefires that would end the suffering in Lebanon and Gaza and called for the resumption of critical funding to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Syria at a crossroads
An offensive launched by armed groups on 27 November led to the overthrow of the former government on 8 December, sparking hopes for an end to the world’s largest displacement crisis alongside uncertainty over the country’s immediate future.
Before these dramatic events, over 13 million people remained displaced either inside Syria or in neighbouring countries. Following nearly 14 years of crisis, humanitarian needs are at record levels amid widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure and economic collapse. Since the start of the offensive, around 1 million people – mostly women and children – have been newly displaced from areas including Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Idlib governorates, many uprooted for a second time.
Following the government’s overthrow, thousands of Syrians have spontaneously returned to the country from Lebanon and Türkiye, while others have fled in the other direction. Millions of Syrian refugees are following developments in their country closely to assess whether the transition of power will be a peaceful one that respects their rights and allows for a safe return.
Ukraine war
More than 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Ukrainians have died and 6.7 million have become refugees, including 400,000 who crossed into Europe seeking safety between January and August this year.
Coordinated aerial attacks have intensified in cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Dnipro and people continue to flee or be evacuated from their homes in frontline communities in the east of the country, joining more than 3.5 million who remain internally displaced. Countless children are out of school, either studying online or, in some of the most war-affected areas, in underground shelters to avoid frequent air raids.
UNHCR is working with the Government of Ukraine to support the humanitarian response as well as rebuilding efforts. However, in contrast to the massive outpouring of support for and solidarity with Ukraine at the start of the full-scale war, it risks becoming another neglected crisis. With recent renewed attacks on energy infrastructure disrupting heating, electricity, and water supplies, desperate hardships lie ahead for millions as the country endures its third winter of war.
Afghanistan situation
More than three years after the upheaval that accompanied the August 2021 change in power, Afghans continue to grapple with an ongoing economic crisis, the legacy of decades of conflict, the growing impacts of climate change and shrinking rights and freedoms for women and girls.
Although the overall security situation has improved, the country remains heavily dependent on humanitarian aid. Recently returned refugees and those still displaced within Afghanistan are particularly vulnerable and in need of support, which UNHCR is providing in the form of cash assistance, shelter, skills building, and vocational training. Devastating flash floods in May and July caused widespread destruction and displacement in communities that were already struggling with multiple crises.
In August, the de facto authorities announced a new law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which introduced further restrictions on women’s freedoms including movement, dress and behaviour, as well as on the rights of religious minorities and LGBTQI+ people. These restrictions – combined with deepening economic pressures – are taking a severe toll on the well-being and mental health of Afghans, particularly Afghan women making UNHCR’s psychosocial interventions more needed than ever before.
Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains one of the most complex and neglected in the world. Decades of clashes between the Congolese armed forces and various non-state armed groups have been accompanied by widespread human rights violations and gender-based violence, leaving 6.4 million people displaced inside the country and more than 1 million living as refugees in the region.
A resurgence of fighting in the country’s eastern provinces forced more than 940,000 people to flee in the first half of 2024 alone. Many are now living in overcrowded and unsanitary displacement sites where they are vulnerable to ongoing security risks and disease, including the mpox virus. The DRC has been at the epicentre of an mpox outbreak this year, with some suspected cases among refugees and displaced people.
UNHCR is providing emergency assistance, including shelters, blankets, cooking kits, and psychological support to treat trauma, but an acute shortage of funds is hampering its ability to respond to the crisis in the DRC.
Rohingya crisis
More than seven years after some 750,000 Rohingya fled violent crackdowns in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh, solutions to the crisis remain elusive. In Myanmar, an escalating armed conflict over the past year has worsened conditions for Rohingya who remain in Rakhine and caused record levels of internal displacement across the country.
The deteriorating security situation has had a ripple effect on the 1 million Rohingya refugees living across the Bangladeshi border in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar. Underfunding has also severely hampered efforts to support refugees in the camps, leading to food rations being reduced in the first half of the year; health centres lacking specialized equipment and medicine; and water quality declining, leading to an upsurge in cases of cholera and hepatitis.
The camps have also been hit by a series of disasters, from devastating fires in the dry season to landslides and flash floods in the monsoon season. Worsening conditions in the camps are driving more Rohingya to risk dangerous sea routes to Indonesia and elsewhere.
Climate emergency
With 2024 on track to be the warmest year on record, extreme weather events wreaked havoc around the world. Their impact was particularly devastating in areas already affected by conflict or hosting large numbers of forcibly displaced people.
A report released by UNHCR in November found that three-quarters of forcibly displaced people live in countries heavily impacted by climate change, while half live in places affected by both conflict and serious climate hazards. Many who have fled fighting are at risk of being displaced again by drought and severe flooding.
This was the case in Kenya, Burundi and Somalia between March and May, when heavy rains swept across East Africa, flooding camps sheltering refugees and internally displaced people. Also in May, over half a million people in southern Brazil were displaced by flooding, including refugees and people in need of international protection from Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba. This year, catastrophic flooding also hit displaced people in Yemen, Sudan and across West and Central Africa.
Besides providing emergency assistance to those affected by such disasters, UNHCR is calling for more climate funding to be directed towards refugees and host communities to help them prepare for and adapt to the worsening effects of climate change.
Surge in conflict-related gender-based violence
Gender-based violence is a threat to women and girls globally, with an estimated one in three women affected, according to the UN. For women caught up in conflict or forced to flee their homes, the risks are even higher, and figures suggest the threat is growing as wars multiply. Last year alone, reports of conflict-related sexual violence surged by 50 per cent even as many survivors remained unable to seek help.
In Sudan, women and girls are reporting shocking levels of sexual violence in conflict-affected areas and while they flee to neighbouring countries. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women and girls are bearing the brunt of the conflict with incidents of rape skyrocketing as well as sexual exploitation by community members. In Afghanistan, increasing restrictions on women and girls and high rates of domestic violence have contributed to a mental health crisis.
UNHCR works with refugee and host communities, and local partners to provide psychosocial support, safe accommodation, legal and cash assistance to survivors while also implementing programmes to prevent violence before it occurs.
Progress on ending statelessness
This year saw the conclusion of the decade-long #IBelong campaign, led by UNHCR. During that time, more than half a million people around the world who were living in the shadows, deprived of their right to a nationality, have acquired citizenship.
In the last decade, at least 22 states adopted national action plans to end statelessness and this year, Turkmenistan followed Kyrgyzstan by announcing it had eradicated all known cases of statelessness in the country. Thailand also took a major step towards ending statelessness with its approval of an accelerated route to permanent residency and nationality for nearly half a million people, including members of minority ethnic groups, while South Sudan acceded to two key conventions on statelessness.
With much work still to be done, UNHCR launched a new Global Alliance to End Statelessness in October that includes more than 100 States and civil society organizations that have committed to consigning statelessness to history.
Summer of sport
Over the summer, 45 refugee athletes and para-athletes competed in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, making up the largest refugee teams ever at both events. During the Olympic Games opening ceremony, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi was awarded the Olympic Laurel for his and UNHCR’s work using the power of sport to improve the lives of refugees and other displaced people.
Boxer Cindy Ngamba went on to win the Olympic Refugee Team’s first-ever medal – a bronze in the women’s 75kg category – while other members of the team competing across 12 sports broke personal records and showcased their talents and determination to the world.
A few weeks later at the Paralympic Games, Zakia Khudadadi and Guillaume Junior Atangana, along with his guide runner Donard Ndim Nyamjua, claimed historic bronze medals in the women’s Para taekwondo and men’s T11 400m race respectively, making headlines and shining a light on the estimated 18 million people with disabilities who are forcibly displaced worldwide.
UNHCR partnered with the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic Refuge Foundation and the International Paralympic Committee to support refugees at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.