The number of forcibly displaced people reached a record 117.3 million towards the end of last year. This was announced by the UN Refugee Agency, reports Reuters, quoted by News.bg.
However, it warns that this figure could rise even further if major policy changes are not undertaken globally.
"These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people who are forced to leave because of conflict, because of persecution, because of various and increasingly complex forms of violence," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi .
In his words conflict remains a very deep driver of displacement.
In its Global Trends in Forced Displacement report, UNHCR states that there has been an annual increase in the number of people forcibly displaced over the past 12 years.
The agency estimates that forced displacement continued to increase in the first four months of 2024, with the number of displaced people likely to exceed 120 million by the end of April.
"Unless there is a change in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I expect this figure to continue to rise,", Grandi noted regarding the risk of new conflicts.
Conflicts leading to displacement include the war in Sudan, which Grandi described as "one of the most catastrophic", although it has attracted less attention than other crises. He noted that over 9 million people have been internally displaced and another 2 million have fled to neighboring countries such as Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.
"People are arriving by the hundreds every day," Grandi said, referring to the influx of people seeking safety in Chad.
In Gaza, Israel's bombing and ground campaign have led to the internal displacement of around 1.7 million people - nearly 80% of the Palestinian enclave's population.
Grandi warned that a possible crossing of Gazans into Egypt from the border town of Rafah to escape Israel's military offensive would be catastrophic.
"Another refugee crisis outside of Gaza would be catastrophic on all levels, including because we have no guarantee that people will be able to return to Gaza one day," he explained.