from ADANE BIKILA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia Bureau
ADDIS ABABA, (CAJ News) – WAR, violence, persecution and human rights abuses have forced more people than ever in the past decade.
According to the United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2021, those displaced stood at 89,3 million, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
This is well over double the figure of ten years ago, according to UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report.
Now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other emergencies have pushed the figure to over the gory milestone of 100 million.
“Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed,” Filippo Grandi, the UNHCR Commissioner for Refugees, stated.
“Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue,” said Grandi.
Meanwhile, food scarcity, inflation and the climate crisis are adding to people’s hardship.
The setbacks are also stretching the humanitarian response just as the funding outlook in many situations appears bleak.
In Africa, a rise in refugee arrivals has been noted in Chad, Sudan and Uganda. The United Kingdom, is set thousands of refugees to Rwanda, a move the increases refugee arrivals in the African continent.
The conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray and other regions has spurred the flight of millions within the country.
Insurgencies in the Sahel drove fresh internal displacement, particularly in Burkina Faso and Chad.
Grandi welcomed that communities were working together to pursue solutions for the displaced, amid the gloom.
“It’s happening in places – for example the regional cooperation to repatriate Ivorians – but these important decisions need to be replicated or scaled up elsewhere,” he said.
– CAJ News