A record that should never have been set: 100 million displaced people

Delil Souleiman for UNICEF

A family is residing in the unofficial neighborhood of Raqqa, Syria.

There are few chances for a safe return to Syria

Since the war in Syria has been going on for 11 years, about 5 million young Syrians have never seen their country at peace.

Over 80,000 Syrians live in the large Za’atari camp in Jordan, and many of them may have to stay there for a while.

In July, Dominik Bartsch, who works for the UNHCR in Amman, Jordan’s capital, said that the chances of a return “do not look good right now.” “We do not observe a climate in Syria that would be favorable for returns.”

Only 17% of the 675,000 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan live in the two main refugee camps, Za’atari and Azraq. The rest live in towns and villages with Jordanians.

Rohingyas are still leaving Myanmar

After a military campaign of persecution more than five years ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled their homes in Myanmar. Nearly a million people live in the big Cox’s Bazar camp in Bangladesh, which is right next to Myanmar.

In March, the UN released its most recent response plan. It asked for more than $881 million to help the refugees and the more than 500,000 Bangladeshis who live nearby and depend heavily on aid.

This year, many Rohingya who tried to cross the Andaman Sea, one of the most dangerous sea crossings in the world, still left Myanmar.

When it was reported in May that more than a dozen migrants, including children, had died at sea off the coast of Myanmar, the Asia and Pacific Director of the UN refugee agency, Indrika Ratwatte, said that the tragedy showed how desperate the Rohingya were to leave the country.

Photo by Ashley Gilbertson VII for UNICEF

A guy points to a train car window in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and says, “Double standard in handling of Ukraine refugees.”

According to UN refugee agency data, more than 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees were registered across Europe in December, ten months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 and appears to be expected to last until 2023.

UN organizations got ready to help as soon as the violence started. On behalf of national governments, UNHCR and other UN agencies and partners managed how to help refugees.

For instance, personnel helped the government in the neighboring country of Poland register refugees and give them housing and aid.

Filippo Grandi praised European countries for being willing to take in Ukrainian refugees, most of whom were looking for safety in their neighbors. However, he also said he felt terrible for the country and its people.

Ripped to pieces

Families have been arbitrarily torn apart. He warned that many more people would suffer the same fate if the war continued.

However, when it came to some members of minority cultures, this generosity of spirit was not always there. Mr. Grandi exposed the racism, bigotry, and violence they experienced in March.

Mr. Grandi stated during a speech on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that the UN refugee agency had seen “the ugly reality” that some black and brown people fleeing Ukraine and other wars and conflicts around the world had not received the same treatment as Ukrainian refugees.

In July, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, González Morales, repeated Mr. Grandi’s worries. In particular, Mr. Morales claimed that people of African origin and other racial and ethnic minorities are treated differently from other refugees in Poland and Belarus.

Since the fighting in the Tigray region began on November 3, 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, millions of Ethiopians remain internally displaced.

By the end of the year, a fragile peace deal brokered by the international community seemed to be holding. Help was getting to the troubled northern districts that had been cut off for months, and many people were going home to fix their lives.

In January, the UN refugee agency sent out a severe warning. It said that refugees in the area were struggling to get enough food, medicine, and clean water because conditions were getting worse, and they could die if nothing changed.

Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for the UNHCR, said that the terrible conditions in these camps show how the lack of access and supplies affects millions of displaced people and other civilians in the region.

Refugees have also come under direct attack. In February, armed people attacked an Eritrean camp in the Afar region, killing people and taking their things. This drove thousands of Eritreans to escape.

In August, UN agencies issued a critical funding request to assist over 750 000 people fleeing to Ethiopia. Without the necessary funding, the World Food Programme warned, many refugees would go without food.