WUNRN
INTERNALLY DISPLACED WOMEN &
CHILDREN
The
often-cited statistic that as many as 80 per cent of displaced populations are
women and children fails to convey the complete devastation that displacement
visits upon women and communities. Leaving homes, property and community behind
renders women vulnerable to violence, disease and food scarcity, whether they
flee willingly or unwillingly. Internally displaced women face additional
dangers as they are often invisible to the international community within
the context of violent conflict. Camps for refugees and the internally
displaced have been criticized for not addressing women’s needs and concerns in
their design and procedure. Failure to account for women’s security and health
needs can make a camp that was intended to provide refuge a dangerous and
deadly place for women and girls.
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REFUGEE & DISPLACEMENT REPORT
2012 - UN REFUGEE AGENCY
Direct Link to Full 44-Page Report:
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UNHCR - UN Refugee Agency
2012 UNHRC REPORT SAYS GLOBAL
FORCED DISPLACEMENT IS AT 18-YEAR HIGH
© UNHCR
Average number
of newly displaced persons per day 2003-2012
UNHCR's annual
Global Trends report, released on Wednesday, covers displacement that occurred
during 2012 based on data from governments, NGO partners, and the UN refugee
agency itself. The report shows that as of the end of 2012, more than 45.2
million people were in situations of displacement compared to 42.5 million at
the end of 2011.
This includes
15.4 million refugees, 937,000 asylum seekers, and 28.8 million people forced
to flee within the borders of their own countries. The report does not include
the rise in those forced from their homes in
War remains the
dominant cause. A full 55 percent of all refugees listed in UNHCR's report come
from just five war-affected countries:
"These
truly are alarming numbers. They reflect individual suffering on a huge scale
and they reflect the difficulties of the international community in preventing
conflicts and promoting timely solutions for them," said António Guterres,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees and head of UNHCR.
The report
highlights worrisome trends, including the rate at which people are being
forced into situations of displacement. During 2012 some 7.6 million people
became newly displaced, 1.1 million as refugees and 6.5 million as internally
displaced people. This translates to a new refugee or internally displaced
person every 4.1 seconds.
© UNHCR
Major source
countries of refugees, end 2012
Also evident is
a continuing gap between richer and poorer countries in hosting refugees. Of
10.5 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate -- a further 4.9 million
Palestinian refugees fall under the mandate of its sister-agency, the UN Relief
and Works Agency), half are hosted by countries that have a per capita GDP of
less than US$5,000. In all, developing countries host 81 percent of the world's
refugees compared to 70 percent a decade ago.
Children below
age 18 make up 46 percent of all refugees. In addition, a record 21,300 asylum
applications submitted during 2012 were from children who were unaccompanied or
separated from their parents. This is the highest number of unaccompanied or
separated children that UNHCR has recorded.
Global
displacement for any year is the sum of new displacement, existing unresolved
displacement, and subtracting resolved displacement such as people returning
home or being allowed to settle permanently outside their home country through
citizenship or some other solution.
UNHCR works to
help people who are forcibly displaced, including through aid and immediate
practical help, and by finding solutions to their plight. The year 2012 saw an
end to displacement for 2.7 million people, including 526,000 refugees and 2.1
million internally displaced people. Among those for whom solutions were found
are 74,800 people submitted by UNHCR for resettlement in third countries.
Last year saw
little change from 2011 in the rankings of the world's major refugee hosting
countries.
© UNHCR
Major refugee
hosting countries, end 2012
With people displaced
inside their own countries, the figure of 28.8 million for 2012 is the highest
level in more than two decades. This includes 17.7 million who are being helped
by the UN refugee agency. UNHCR assistance to IDPs is not automatic but occurs
at the request of governments. Significant new internal displacement was seen
in the Democratic Republic of Congo and
The Global Trends report is UNHCR's leading annual report
on the state of forced displacement. Additional data is published annually in
the UN refugee agency's Statistical Yearbooks, and its reports on asylum
applications in industrialized nations.