New record of 110 million forcibly displaced people, including because of climate
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees published its annual report on 14 on Wednesday 2022 June, and its findings are edifying, with a series of sad records: 108.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes. In sub-Saharan Africa, unprecedented figures are again being reached.
According to the UNHCR report, the number of people displaced by the consequences of climate change has almost tripled, particularly in the Horn of Africa, which has experienced the worst drought in its history. Here, Somalis displaced in this direction, at a settlement near Dollow, September 19, 2022. © Jerome Delay / AP
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In total, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) reports an additional 16.5 million displaced people worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of refugees is stable, with seven million people, UNHCR has recorded a 17 per cent increase in IDPs. The recent fighting in Sudan has further aggravated a situation already made extraordinary in 2022 by Russia's invasion of Ukraine or the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Never before has the total number of refugees fleeing their countries or internally displaced persons reached such a level, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in its annual report.
Refugees. Asylum seekers. Internally displaced persons.
More than 110 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide. ⬇️
🔗 https://t.co/RAW5Ra2gSR pic.twitter.com/XtKsKV1jzr
— UNHCR in France (@UNHCRfrance) June 14, 2023
Droughts, floods, storms: consequences of climate change
The situation is very worrying for the victims of droughts, floods, storms: their number has almost tripled, which is unprecedented. The year 2022 was marked by the La Niña phenomenon, and a cooling in the eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to a series of calamities.
The Horn of Africa has experienced the longest and worst drought in its history with five consecutive rainy seasons below average. The result: two million more displaced people in the region. Livestock are dying, herders must become sedentary or change their lives to survive, the report says.
The West has been severely impacted by heavy rains: floods have affected populations already displaced by conflict and food insecurity. Nigeria surpassed the two million mark, a record in a decade, as did Chad, which experienced the worst flooding in 30 years.
« A more hostile environment »
Niger has registered nearly 250,000 displaced people, almost double the number in 2021. As for Mali, the figure has almost quadrupled.
In addition, nine million people have been displaced by conflict, spread over only a dozen countries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo alone accounts for 44 per cent of sub-Saharan displaced persons, a 48 per cent national increase. Armed groups have stepped up their attacks in Ituri and North and South Kivu with the resurgence of the M23.
All these people face "a more hostile environment, especially with regard to refugees, almost everywhere," High Commissioner Filippo Grandi told a news conference in Geneva.
However, the report shows few positive trends, with declines in Ethiopia and South Sudan.
► Read also: Record drought in the Horn of Africa due to global warming, according to a report
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Read on on the same topics:
- Refugees
- UN
- Climate
- Climate change
- Weather
- Chad
- Sudan
- South Sudan
- Mali
- DRC
- Nigeria