UNITED NATIONS: A staggering 100 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2022 globally, the United Nations refugee agency said Monday, highlighting the continued UN help to those in need in a myriad of ways, and push for more legal, and safe ways for people to migrate.
That figure, which includes those fleeing conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution, was announced by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in May and described by Filippo Grandi, the head of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as a record that should never have been set.
The figure is up from some 90 million in 2021. Outbreaks of violence, or protracted conflicts, were key migration factors in many parts of the world, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Syria, and Myanmar.
Thousands of desperate migrants looked to Europe as a preferred destination, putting their lives in the hands of human traffickers, and setting off on perilous journeys across the Mediterranean.
All too often these journeys ended in tragedy.
It has now been more than seven years since the protracted conflict began in Yemen, between a Saudi-led pro-Government coalition and Houthi rebels, together with their allies, precipitating a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced more than 4.3 million people to leave their homes, the agency pointed out.
In May, The UN migration agency IOM and the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid wing (ECHO), announced that they were scaling up efforts to respond to the needs of more than 325,000 displaced by the conflict, including migrants and the communities that host them.
“The situation is also getting worse for migrants in Yemen, especially women, who are living in dire conditions in Yemen with little control over their lives,” said Christa Rottensteiner, chief of the IOM Mission in the country.
Despite the dire situation in Yemen, it remains a destination and transit point for migrants leaving countries in the Horn of Africa.
In Syria, war has now been upending lives for 11 years: nearly five million children born in Syria have never known the country at peace.
More than 80,000 Syrians call the huge Zaatari camp, in Jordan, home: many of them may have to remain outside of their country for the foreseeable future.
More than five years ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled their homes in Myanmar, after a military campaign of persecution. Almost a million live in the vast Cox’s Bazar camp across the border in neighbouring Bangladesh.
In March, the UN launched its latest response plan, calling for more than $881 million for the refugees, and neighbouring communities (more than half a million Bangladeshis), who are also highly reliant on aid.
This year, Rohingya continued to leave Myanmar, many attempting to cross the Andaman Sea, one of the deadliest water crossings in the world.
When more than a dozen migrants, including children, reportedly died at sea off the coast of Myanmar in May, Indrika Ratwatte, the UN refugee agency’s Asia and Pacific Director, said the tragedy demonstrated the sense of desperation being felt by Rohingya still in the country.
Ten months on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February, and seems likely to continue into 2023, UN refugee agency figures show that, by December, more than 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees had been recorded across Europe.
Soon after the conflict began, UN agencies mobilized to provide support. UNHCR coordinated the refugee response together with sister UN agencies and partners, in support of national authorities.
In Ethiopia, millions remain displaced due to the armed conflict in the Tigray region, which began on 3 November 2020 between Ethiopian national forces, Eritrean troops, Amhara forces and other militias on one side, and forces loyal to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation front on the other.
By the end of this year, a fragile internationally-brokered truce seemed to be holding with aid returning to embattled northern regions inaccessible for months, along with many returning home to rebuild their shattered lives.
Back in January, the UN refugee agency issued the stark warning that, due to deteriorating conditions, refugees in the region were struggling to get enough food, medicine, and clean water, and risked death unless the situation improved.
The number of people who died or went missing trying to reach Europe by boat doubled between 2022 and 2021, to more than 3,000. This grim statistic was released by the UNHCR in April.
