Rise in forced displacement in first half 2015- UNHCR
Date
12/18/2015 5:13:50 AM
(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) GENEVA Dec 18 (KUNA) -- With almost a million people having crossed the Mediterranean as refugees and migrants so far this year and conflicts in Syria and elsewhere continuing to generate staggering levels of human suffering 2015 is likely to exceed all previous records for global forced displacement the UN high commission for refugees (UNHCR) warned in a new report released on Friday. UNHCR's Mid-Year Trends 2015 report covering the period from January to end of June and looking at worldwide displacement resulting from conflict and persecution shows markers firmly in the red in each of the three major categories of displacement - refugees asylum-seekers and people forced to flee in their own countries.Global refugees' total figure which a year ago was 19.5 million had as of mid-2015 passed the 20 million threshold (20.2 million) for the first time since 1992. Asylum applications were meanwhile up 78 percent (993600) over the same period in 2014. And the numbers of internally displaced people jumped by around two million to an estimated 34 million.Taking into account that the report covers only internally displaced people protected by the UNHCR (the global total number including people both in and outside UNHCR's care will only be available in mid-2016). The current year is on track to see worldwide forced displacement exceeding 60 million for the first time - one in every 122 humans has been forced to flee his (her) home.High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said: "Forced displacement is now profoundly affecting our times. It touches the lives of millions of our fellow human beings - both those forced to flee and those who provide them with shelter and protection. Never has there been a greater need for tolerance compassion and solidarity with people who have lost everything." Beyond the headline numbers the report shows worsening indicators in several key areas. Voluntary return rates - a measure of how many refugees can safely go back home and a barometer of the global state of conflict - are at their lowest levels in over three decades (an estimated 84000 people compared to 107000 in the same period a year ago). In other words one who becomes a refugee today his (her) chances of going back home are lower than at any time in more than 30 years. New refugee numbers are also up sharply: Some 839000 people in just six months equivalent to an average rate of almost 4600 being forced to flee their countries every day.Syria's war remains the single biggest generator worldwide of both new refugees and continuing mass internal and external displacement. However the report notes that even with Syria's war excluded from the measurements the underlying trend remains one of rising displacement globally.As a consequence of more refugees being stuck in exile pressures on the hosting countries are growing too; a situation if left unmanaged can increase resentment and abet politicization of the refugee plight. Despite such risks the first half of 2015 was also marked by extraordinary generosity: On an absolute basis and counting refugees who fall under UNHCR's mandate Turkey is the world's biggest hosting country with 1.84 million refugees on its territory as of June 30.Lebanon meanwhile hosts more refugees compared to its population size than any other country with 209 refugees per 1000 inhabitants. Ethiopia pays most in relation to the size of its economy with 469 refugees for every dollar of GDP (per capita at PPP). Overall the lion's share of the global responsibility for hosting refugees continues to be carried by countries immediately bordering zones of conflict many of them in the developing world.Europe's influx of people arriving by boat via the Mediterranean is only partly reflected in the report mainly as arrivals there have escalated in the second half of 2015 and outside the period covered by the report. Nonetheless in the first six months of 2015 Germany was the world's biggest recipient of new asylum claims - 159000 close to the entire total for all of 2014. The second largest recipient was the Russian Federation with 100000 claims mainly people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. (end) ta.rk
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