Record 75.9 million internally displaced in 2023, UN-backed report reveals
The number of people living in internal displacement soared to a record 75.9 million last year, a new UN-backed report said on Tuesday.
The number of people living in internal displacement soared to a record 75.9 million last year, a new UN-backed report said on Tuesday.
More resources are urgently needed for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to meet the needs of thousands of refugees and internally displaced, who are fleeing the bloody showdown between rival military factions in Sudan.
That’s according to Faith Kasina, Regional Spokesperson for UNHCR who is based in Nairobi. Ezzat El-Ferri of UN News’s Arabic service began by asking her for the latest on the extent of internal displacement across the country so far.
Humanitarian aid alone cannot overcome record levels of internal displacement globally, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report published on Tuesday, calling for urgent action to support people uprooted by climate, conflict and crisis.
Most people are familiar with the phenomenon of refugees, those forced to flee their country of origin, because of a well-founded fear of persecution or, in some places, because of armed conflict or natural disaster.
But there is another, equally vulnerable category of people, who don’t cross international boundaries, but find it necessary to relocate to a different region of their country.
More than 360,000 internally displaced persons in Chad’s Lake province are facing a “double” crisis, exposed to security and environmental risks, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported, highlighting the need to strengthen resilience of affected communities.
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With 24.2 million Africans forced from their homes in 2017 ̶ 4.6 million more than the previous year ̶ the UN is hosting a three-day event at UN headquarters, focusing on finding durable solutions to the problem, which is a growing burden on the continent’s economy, environment and communities which host those displaced.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it’s extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Al-Hol camp in Syria’s Al-Hasakeh Governorate, where 11 infants are reported to have died due to cold, in the past two days alone.
Over the last two months, approximately 23,000 people, mainly women and children fleeing hostilities in rural areas of neighbouring Deir Ezzour, have arrived in the camp.
The presence of UN peacekeepers and other staff from the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur, UNAMID, is a valuable “source of protection” to people in central Jabal Marra, an area that has been strongly affected by the long-running conflict across the Sudanese region.
Humanitarian needs are enormous in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has reported accounts of “barbaric violence”.