Published By Olukayode Idowu
The war in Ukraine and Nigeria crisis, among others have pushed the number of displaced persons on the globe to over 100 million, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in a statement on Monday said new data has shown that the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide rose towards 90 million by the end of 2021, propelled by new waves of violence or protracted conflict in countries including Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The statement added that in addition, the war in Ukraine has displaced 8 million within the country this year, and more than 6 million refugee movements from Ukraine have been registered.
According to the statement, the number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has now crossed the staggering milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria, Filippo Grandi while stating that this figure must ‘serve as a wake-up call’ for more action to promote peace and address all causes of forced displacement, said: “One hundred million is a stark figure — sobering and alarming in equal measure. It’s a record that should never have been set.”
He added that: “This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflicts, end persecution, and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes.”
The statement backing on a recent report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), noted that at over 1% of the global population, the overall figure is equivalent to the 14th most populous country in the world, which includes refugees and asylum seekers as well as the 53.2 million people displaced inside their borders by conflict.
Grandi added that: “The international response to people fleeing war in Ukraine has been overwhelmingly positive,” stressing that: “Compassion is alive and we need a similar mobilization for all crises around the world. But ultimately, humanitarian aid is a palliative, not a cure. To reverse this trend, the only answer is peace and stability so that innocent people are not forced to gamble between acute danger at home or precarious flight and exile.”