On Saturday, June 20th, the UN will be marking the 70th anniversary of World Refugee Day, a day that reminds the world of the hardships people in developing, war-torn, famine-stricken countries, go through.
The UNHCR, the main body of the UN that focuses on addressing refugee-related issues, released a report, in light of Saturday's anniversary, detailing a spike in displacement in 2019.
According to the report, 79.5 million people, worldwide, were forced to flee their homes last year, in comparison to 2018’s 70 million figure. 40% of the refugees were children below 18 years of age.
Out of the 79.5 million figure, 26 million are refugees, 4.2 million are asylum-seekers, 45.7 million are displaced in their own countries, and the remaining 3.6 million are Venezuelans displaced in other countries other than their own.
A majority of the refugees come from Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar.
The push factors in almost all the countries listed as refugee outsourcers are war, starvation, human rights violations, and politically motivated persecution.
Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo became a hotspot for displacement, in the continent, as fighting between militant groups and government military personnel intensified over the years. Last year alone, 6 million Congolese nationals were forced to flee their country.
"This continues to be a global issue, an issue for all States, but one that challenges most directly the poorer countries - not the richer countries - in spite of the rhetoric,” UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said.
According to the report, Turkey played host to the most number of refugees, taking in 3.9 million asylum-seekers, mainly fleeing the ongoing war in Syria.
The UN is calling on all developed countries to follow Turkey’s lead and take in more refugees, instead of leaving it to developing countries, which according to the UNHCR, have already taken in 85% of the world’s refugees.
By Niza Nondo
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