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UNHCR – UN Refugee Agency: “Women and girls comprise about half of any refugee, internally displaced or stateless population.”
UN REFUGEE AGENCY MID-YEAR TRENDS REPORT ON REFUGEES & INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
WAR CAUSES FURTHER GROWTH IN FORCED DISPLACEMENT IN FIRST HALF OF 2014 – WOMEN & GIRLS
Direct Link to Full 24-Page UNHCR 2014 Report:
http://unhcr.org/54aa91d89.html#_ga=1.179637732.1940524733.1420644392
http://www.unhcr.org/54ac24226.html
© UNHCR/J.Kohler
Syrians, for the first time, have become the largest
refugee population under UNHCR's mandate.
GENEVA,
January 7 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on Tuesday reported that war in
the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere had uprooted an estimated 5.5 million
people during the first six months of 2014, signalling a further rise in the
number of people forcibly displaced.
UNHCR's
new "Mid-Year Trends 2014" report shows that of the 5.5 million who
were newly displaced, 1.4 million fled across international borders becoming
refugees, while the rest were displaced within their own countries. Taking into
account existing displaced populations, data revisions, voluntary returns and
resettlement, the number of people being helped by UNHCR stood at 46.3 million
as of mid-2014 – some 3.4 million more than at the end of 2013 and a record high.
Among
the report's main findings are that Syrians, for the first time, have become
the largest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate (Palestinians in the
Middle East fall under the care of the UN Relief and Works Agency), overtaking
Afghans, who had held that position for more than three decades. At more than 3
million as of June 2014, Syrian refugees now account for 23 per cent of all
refugees being helped by UNHCR worldwide.
Despite
dropping to second place, the 2.7 million Afghan refugees worldwide remain the
largest protracted (at least five years) refugee population under UNHCR care.
After Syria and Afghanistan, the leading countries of origin of refugees are
Somalia (1.1 million), Sudan (670,000), South Sudan (509,000), the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (493,000), Myanmar (480,000) and Iraq (426,000).
Pakistan,
which hosts 1.6 million Afghan refugees, remains the biggest host country in
absolute terms. Other countries with large refugee populations are Lebanon (1.1
million), Iran (982,000), Turkey (824,000), Jordan (737,000), Ethiopia
(588,000), Kenya (537,000) and Chad (455,000).
By
comparing the number of refugees to the size of a country's population or
economy, UNHCR's report puts the contribution made by host nations into
context: Relative to the sizes of their populations Lebanon and Jordan host the
largest number of refugees, while relative to the sizes of their economies the
burdens carried by Ethiopia and Pakistan are greatest.
In
all, the number of refugees under UNHCR's mandate reached 13 million by
mid-year, the highest since 1996, while the total number of internally
displaced people protected or assisted by the agency reached a new high of 26
million. As UNHCR only provides help for the internally displaced in countries
where governments request its involvement, this figure does not include all
internally displaced people worldwide.
"In
2014 we have seen the number of people under our care grow to unprecedented
levels. As long as the international community continues to fail to find
political solutions to existing conflicts and to prevent new ones from
starting, we will continue to have to deal with the dramatic humanitarian
consequences," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
"The
economic, social and human cost of caring for refugees and the internally
displaced is being borne mostly by poor communities, those who are least able
to afford it. Enhanced international solidarity is a must if we want to avoid
the risk of more and more vulnerable people being left without proper
support."
Another
major finding in the report is the shift in the regional distribution of
refugee populations. Until last year, the region hosting the largest refugee
population was Asia and the Pacific. As a result of the crisis in Syria, the
Middle East and North Africa have now become the regions hosting the largest
number of refugees.
UNHCR's Mid-Year Trends 2014 report is based on data from governments and the organization's worldwide offices. As information available to UNHCR at this point in the year is incomplete it does not show total forced displacement globally (those figures are presented in June each year in UNHCR's annual "Global Trends" report, which as of end 2013 showed that 51.2 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide). Nonetheless, the data it presents is a major component of the global total and an important indicator of worldwide refugee and IDP trends.
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http://www.voanews.com/content/un-reports-big-increase-in-people-fleeing-conflict/2588532.html
UN Reports Big Increase in People Fleeing
Conflict