Berlin: The number of people around the world was forced to leave their homes as possible increased to more than 84 million in the first half of this year, an increase triggered specifically by conflict in Africa, said the UN refugee body said Thursday.
The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees said the number of people moved – most of them in their own country – rose from 82.4 million by the end of 2020.
“The international community failed to prevent violence, persecution, and human rights violations, which continued to expel people From their home, “Agency’s head, Filippo Grandi, said in a statement.
“In addition, the effects of climate change aggravates the vulnerabilities in many areas that are forcibly moved.” A UNHCR report found that the number of people classified as refugees under the mandate of more than 20.8 million half throughout the year – increased 172,000 from the end of last year.
The number of asylum seekers reached 4.4 million, an increase of 237,000.
“Even though the comparable figure for internal displacement is not yet available, based on information in the hands of UNHCR estimates that global forced transfer is likely to exceed 84 million in mid 2021,” he said.
About 1.1 million people returned to their area or country of origin in the first round this year.
The agency said that more than 4.3 million new internal displacements were recorded between January and June in 33 countries where he monitored the displacement situation.
It was said that it increased sharply from the previous year and that intensifying violence caused “significant” displacement in Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Myanmar, South Sudan and countries in the West Sahel area of ​​Africa.
UNHCR said the figure came from the government and his own office throughout the world and was equipped with data from non-governmental organizations.