Internal Displacement: A Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2005 (March 2006)

 

While global refugee population continues to shrink, number of internally displaced people remains at alarming level

GENEVA, 20 June 2006 – While the global refugee population continues to shrink according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, the number of people displaced within their own country remains at an alarmingly high level, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council warned on the occasion of today’s World Refugee Day.

“Finding durable solutions for the millions of remaining refugees must remain a priority, but it is equally important to redouble our efforts to assist and protect the much larger number of people who have been forced to seek refuge within their own countries”, said Elisabeth Rasmusson, Head of the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

The IDMC estimates that the number of people internally displaced by conflicts alone is close to 24 million, whereas the number of refugees has dropped to 8.4 million according to UNHCR (or 12 million according to sources including Palestinian refugees).

Full text of press release

 

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