Number of refugees, displaced people in the world hit record high this week

The number of refugees worldwide reached a record high earlier this week, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s statistics.

By the end of last year, there were 108.4 million people living under forced displacement around the world as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and other events, according to UNHCR’s Global Trends Report.

The 21 per cent increase in refugees year-over-year affected 19 million people—more than the population of Ecuador, the Netherlands or Somalia.

UNHCR’s report states during 2023, so far, more than one million people have been forced out of their homes and tried to find asylum somewhere.

On June 14, six days before World Refugee Day, a fishing boat carrying hundreds of migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. More than 500 migrants are still missing. So far, this is considered the second deadliest shipwreck in modern times after an April 2015 collision where only 28 migrants on a boat with 1,100 others survived.

According to a recent UNICEF report, the number of children displaced reached a record high of 43.3 million in 2023, meaning there are currently more children displaced in the world than people living in Canada, the population of which recently reached 40 million.

David Morley, CEO of UNICEF Canada, told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday the increase in refugees wordlwide is due to families leaving difficult situations at home and searching for a better environment for their children.

“We know that story of the history of immigration to Canada, it’s people trying to do something better for their family and for their kids,” he said.

REFUGEES PER CONTINENT

The UNHCR’s global estimates of refugees and asylum-seekers worldwide reached 35.4 million by the end of May 2023.

In Europe, the number of refugees grew from seven million at the end of 2021 to 12.4 million at the end of 2022, as 5.7 million Ukrainians sought refuge in nearby countries.

The continent hosted more than one-third or 36 per cent of all refugees in the world.

At the end of 2022, 800,600 refugees and 5.2 million other people in need of international protection resided in countries in North and South America, most of whom were Venezuelan.

Colombia hosted 2.5 million refugees and other people in need of international protection, Peru hosted 976,400 and Ecuador hosted 555,400.

In Asia and the Pacific region, the number of refugees hosted rose from 4.2 million in 2021 to 6.8 million by the end of last year. Over 90 per cent are hosted in just three countries: the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa hosted one fifth of all refugees globally.

In the Middle East and North African region the number of refugees had slightly declined by two per cent by the end of 2022. Out of the 2.4 million refugees there, 87 per cent were in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.

“This decrease was due to population verification exercises in Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan,” the UNHCR report reads.

CANADA’S ROLE

Laura Madokoro, historian and professor at the department of history at Carleton University in Ottawa, told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday that World Refugee Day should be “an opportunity to reflect on both the past, present and future,” and how each country and individual can contribute to the situation.

“Canada has, historically, been a host country. But we also have been a country that has seen people displaced, and I’m thinking in particular of Indigenous peoples,” said Madokoro.

Canada has welcomed 1,088,015 refugees since 1980. This number includes those who were recognized as refugees in Canada or who were resettled from overseas, according to a UNHCR report.

Morley said to continue welcoming all these people, especially those who come as a family, Canada needs to improve the administrative barriers such as processing times.

“We move slowly sometimes, and for children, they are missing out on opportunities such as education, enough financial resources, housing,” he said.

“If you’re six and something takes two years, that’s a third of your life to date!… Because we tend to make rules for adults, we don’t think enough about the impact it has on children”

Additionally, when thinking about the future of refugees and Canada’s role globally and domestically, Madokoro said the way of thinking should change.

“Refugees are so often reduced to headlines and images, when in fact we are all very complicated human beings with multiple layers to our existence,” said Madokoro.