São Paulo – The global displacement of people caused by wars and persecution reached a record level last year and this trend pointing to an increase is seen since 2011 when the conflict in Syria started, according to a report released this Thursday (18th) by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Unhcr). According to the UN’s body, at the end of 2014, 59.5 million people were forced to leave their houses. In 2013, the number pointed to 51.2 million, which means there was an increase of 8.3 million people, the highest for a year.
Syria is currently the country with the highest refugee population, 7.6 million people, and also is the main place of origin for the refugees, 3.88 million at the end of last year. The situation, according to Unhcr, makes the Middle East both the main origin and also the main receiving region for displaced people due to conflicts and persecutions. Another Arab country, Somalia, has 1.1 million refugees. There are also 3.6 million displaced and 2.6 million refugees from Iraq spread around the world, besides the 309,000 displaced in Libya.
Last year, 42,500 people became refugees on a daily average. This number is four times higher compared to four years ago. Unhcr points out that in the last five years, at least 15 conflicts started or restarted, with eight being in Africa, three in the Middle East, one in Europe and three in Asia. In the African continent, the agency lists Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Northeast of Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Burundi. In the Middle East, there are Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
“It’s terrorizing to verify that, on one hand, there is more and more impunity for the conflicts that start and, on the other hand, there is an absolute inability by the international community to work together to end the wars and build a lasting peace”, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, according to a Unhcr’s press release. Last year, according to the institution, only 126,800 refugees were able to return to their home countries, the lowest number in 31 years.
The report also brings other information, such as that half of the world’s refuges are children and young people up to 18 years of age. Other number revealed is that the presence of refugees is concentrated mainly in the poorer countries. The survey indicates that 86% of refugees are concentrated in the less developed regions or countries.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
