Global number of displaced people reaches 114m: UN

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the number of people displaced by war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million globally.

“Next month we will update this figure,” Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for refugees, said.

“It will be higher. Since briefing the Security Council in October and warning that humanitarians were near a breaking point, the situation has only grown worse,” he added, highlighting that non-compliance with international humanitarian law was proliferating.

“Parties to conflicts — almost all of them — have stopped respecting the basic rules of war. Civilians are killed in growing numbers. Rape and sexual violence are used as weapons of war.”

He added civilian infrastructure was destroyed, humanitarian workers were the target, with civilians having no choice but to flee.

In Syria, he highlighted the presence of 5.6 million refugees and proposals by some European countries to send back refugees to so-called “safe areas” in the country.

He reiterated that voluntary, safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland was the best solution.

Meanwhile in Myanmar, over three million people have been displaced by fighting, he said, noting that the situation in Rakhine State was especially worrying. Humanitarians operate in a high-risk environment, compelling some agencies to temporarily relocate from certain areas.

Turning to Sudan, he said 9 million people are displaced inside the country or refugees in neighbouring countries. Despite pledging over $2 billion at a conference in Paris in April, the international community continues to neglect the situation.

sa/ma