Over 89mn people displaced in 2021, new records on horizon: UNHCR

The number of people displaced worldwide passed a record 89 million last year, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says, warning that the intensification of a global food security crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict could further increase that number.

By the end of 2021, a record 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, abuse, and violence, up 8 percent from a year earlier and well over double the figure 10 years ago, according to the UNHCR’s annual report on displacement, which was released on Thursday.

Millions more been displaced since the beginning of Ukraine-Russia conflict, and surging prices linked to blocked grain exports and disrupted harvests are expected to drive even more displacement.

Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest exporters of grain, has not been able to export the commodity since the onset of the conflict in the country in late February. The US and its allies, which have been playing a major role in the global food trade system, have accused Russia of creating the risk of global famine by shutting Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

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“Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue,” he said.

Grandi also criticized what he called a “monopoly” of resources being given to Ukraine whereas programs to help the displaced elsewhere were underfunded. “Ukraine should not make us forget other crises,” he said, mentioning a two-year-old conflict in Ethiopia and a drought in the Horn of Africa.

He welcomed the outpouring of support for fleeing Ukrainians but highlighted the contrast with the response to people escaping conflict in countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

Grandi also called the EU’s response to refugee crises “unequal.” He said that EU countries were acting brutally against small groups of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat but generously toward Ukrainian refugees.

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Last year was notable for the number of conflicts that escalated and new ones that flared; 23 countries, with a combined population of 850 million, faced medium- or high-intensity conflicts, according to the World Bank.

The UNHCR report said that at the end of 2021, some 27.1 million people – a record – were living as refugees, while the total number of asylum seekers rose 11 percent to 4.6 million.

For the 15th straight year, the number of people displaced within their own country due to conflict increased, reaching 53.2 million, twice that of the past 10 years, according to the report.

It said the increase was driven by mounting violence or conflict in some places, such as Myanmar. The conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray and other regions has spurred the flight of millions within the country. Insurgencies in the Sahel drove fresh internal displacement, particularly in Burkina Faso and Chad.

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