The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East is not the only one, according to the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Many conflicts are spreading or escalating around the world.”
According to the UN, the number of refugees worldwide has reached a new high of around 114 million people. “The world is right now observing, rightly so, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. But too many conflicts are spreading or increasing around the world,” said the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, on Wednesday in Geneva.
In the first half of the year, wars and conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular, led people to flee their homes. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the situation in Somalia, characterized by droughts, floods and insecurity, have also led to many people fleeing.
1.4 million people are fleeing the Gaza Strip
Since the major attack on Israel carried out by the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas and the subsequent Israeli air strikes, the number of internally displaced people in the Gaza Strip has increased to 1.4 million people – out of a population of 2.4 million – according to data from UN.
More than half of people forced to flee their homes never cross a national border, UNHCR said. These are then considered internal refugees. About a third of all refugees currently come from just three countries: Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine. (APA/AFP)