The number of people fleeing war, conflict and persecution increased by two million worldwide in the first half of 2021 and reached the 84 million, reported yesterday the UN in a report.
“The community is unable to prevent the violence and attacks against human rights that expel these people from their homes,” declared the High Commissioner of the UN for refugees, Filippo grandi.
Among the 84 million people there are refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons within their own nations.
His situation worsened, due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and the consequences of climate change.
At the end of June this year, 26.5 million people were considered refugees. Among them 6.6 million are Syrians, 5.7 million Palestinians and 2.7 million Afghans, according to the document.
They are joined by 3.9 million Venezuelans who left their country even though they are not officially considered refugees, and 4.4 million who applied for asylum in the world.
Between January and June 2021, more than 4.3 million people had to move within their own country, a figure that represents a 50% increase over the same period last year.
Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia forced more than a million inhabitants to leave their homes and move to other places within the country. The conflicts also caused the internal displacement of thousands of people in Burma, Afghanistan, Mozambique and South Sudan.
At the same time, a million internally displaced persons were able to return to their homes in the first half of 2021, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons to 51 million at the end of the semester, compared to 48 million registered six months earlier.
“It is the countries with the least resources that carry the burden of providing protection to these people,” Grandi lamented.
By AFP
CAR
