People in huge number across the world are being forcibly displaced and a latest report from United Nations reveals it is one in 122 people.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees report examined top three main categories of displacement and those are displaced within one’s own country, refugees, and asylum-seekers.
This year the displaced refugees may likely surpass the earlier record of 60 million and main driver is the on-going war in Syria and other protected conflicts.
The report is based on the period between January to June 2015. UN reveals the total refugees displaced globally by mid-2015 were 20 million, which crosses the record of 1992, and now it stands at 20.2 million. Also, the asylum applications have increased by 78 percent compared to the same period last year.
United States, Russia and Germany are receiving the highest numbers of asylum requests and in the first six months of 2015 the figure was about one million. As of now about 2.5 million requests are pending for the three nations.
However, the bordering countries of war hit zones host maximum share of the refugees.
UN added in the first half of 2015 about 839,000 people left their countries which mean 4,600 fleeing a day.
Last year the total displaced figure was 59.5 million and the highest number of newly uprooted people was from Yemen that accounted for 933,500 people.
High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said, “Forced displacement is now profoundly affecting our times. It touches the lives of millions of our fellow human beings – both those forced to flee and those who provide them with shelter and protection.”
The civil war in Syria began in 2011 and by June 2015 over 4.2 million refugees have been able to flee abroad and 7.6 million have been uprooted.
Combining Syria and Ukraine the total number of refugees displaced by mid-2015 accounted for 839,000 people. The other countries that have added to the refugee crisis include Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and the Central African Republic.
Meanwhile, the voluntary return figure is too low. In the first six months of this year only 84,000 people have safely returned back to their homeland compared to 107,000 in the same period of 2014.
UNHCR writes in the report, “In effect, if you become a refugee today your chances of going home are lower than at any time in more than 30 years.”
Following the 2012 military coup in Mali thousands of people fled and later returned to the country after relative stability resumed a year later. However, the military as well as political situation still remains complex in the country and about 100,000 Malians are still internally displaced, reveals UNHCR.
One another report from Amnesty International estimates about 4 million Syrian refugees are presently fleeing abroad.
