Asylum seekers rescued from Libyan prisons and sent to Rwanda for processing, play at the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) Gashora transit centre, in Bugesera, eastern Rwanda June 10, 2022. Picture taken June 10, 2022. REUTERS
GENEVA 鈥� A food security crisis stoked by the Ukraine war is set to push more people to flee their homes in poorer countries, driving record levels of global displacement even higher, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
A report by the U.N. body showed on Thursday that some 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, abuse and violence at the end of 2021. Since then, millions more have fled Ukraine or been displaced within its borders, with price hikes linked to blocked grain exports set to stoke more displacement elsewhere.
鈥淚f you have a food crisis on top of everything I have described 鈥� war, human rights, climate 鈥� it will just accelerate the trends I鈥檝e described in this report,鈥� Filippo Grandi told journalists this week, describing the figures as 鈥渟taggering鈥�.
鈥淐learly the impact if this is not resolved quickly will be pretty devastating.鈥� Already, more people were fleeing as a result of price hikes and violent insurgencies in Africa鈥檚 Sahel region, he said.
Ukrainian refugees wait to board a bus in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, May 31, 2022. Picture taken May 31, 2022. REUTERS
Overall, the number of displaced has increased every year over the past decade, the UNHCR report says. It is now more than double the 42.7 million people displaced in 2012.
Grandi also criticised what he called a 鈥渕onopoly鈥� of resources given to Ukraine whereas other programmes to help the displaced were underfunded.
鈥淯kraine should not make us forget other crises,鈥� he said, mentioning a two-year-old conflict in Ethiopia and a drought in the Horn of Africa.
The European Union鈥檚 response to refugee crises has been 鈥渦nequal鈥�, Grandi added. He compared the bickering between states over taking in small groups of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat with EU countries鈥� generosity with Ukrainian refugees since Russia鈥檚 invasion in February.
鈥淐ertainly it proves an important point: responding to refugee influxes, to the arrival of desperate people on the shores or borders of rich countries is not unmanageable,鈥� he said. The report says that low-and-middle income countries hosted 83% of the world鈥檚 refugees at the end of 2021.
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