Photo credit: Malaysia Today
The United Nations disclosed that 117 million people were forcibly displaced in 2023. It warned that the number could increase if political changes do not occur.
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said, “These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced away by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence.”
UNHCR, in its report on global trends in forced displacement, said that there was a yearly increase in the number of people forcibly displaced over the last 12 years.
It estimates that forced displacement continued to increase in the first four months of 2024 and is likely to have exceeded 120 million by the end of April.
Grandi also said that if there is no shift in international geopolitics, the figures will continue to increase.
Grandi described the displacement caused by the war in Sudan as one of the most catastrophic ones despite getting less attention than other crises. He said more of the 9 million people have been internally displaced, and another 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries, including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.
Israel’s war with the Palestinians has caused nearly 80% of the population in Gaza to be internally displaced.
He warned that the possible crossings of Gazans into Egypt from the southern border town of Rafah to escape Israel’s military offensive would be catastrophic.
