London: Reflecting the times we live in, a staggering 120 million people are living forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution, the United Nation (UN) revealed on Thursday.
The ever-increasing number is a “terrible indictment on the state of the world,” UN said.
The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR said forced displacement globally had smashed records again, with conflicts in regions like Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar forcing more and more people to flee their homes, reported AFP.
To gauge the seriousness of this humanitarian crisis, global displaced population is now almost same as the population of Japan.
“Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said.
A year ago, 110 million people were displaced. The number welled to around 117.3 million at the end of 2023 and 120 million by end of April 2024, UNHCR said in a report.
The number of people who have been displaced has been rising for the past 12 years, and has almost trebled since 2012. According to UNHCR, the reason was a combination of new and mutating crises and a failure to resolve long-standing ones.
Grandi highlighted how climate change is impacting population movement and triggering fresh conflicts.
Last year, UNHCR declared 43 emergencies across 29 countries — more than four times just a few years ago.
“The way conflicts are conducted are in complete disregard of international law, and often with the specific purpose of terrorising people. This of course is a powerful contributor to more displacement,” Grandi noted.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be little hope of bucking the trend currently,
Grandi acknowledged.
“Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see the figure continuing to go up,” he said.
