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Africa: Refugee Numbers Growing
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
19 June 2008
Posted to the web 19 June 2008
Hopewell Radebe
Johannesburg
THE number of people uprooted by armed conflict continued to rise last year, reaching an unprecedented 67-million, which has aggravated the humanitarian crisis around the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR's) Global Trends report for last year, which was released yesterday.
The report said the number of refugees and internally displaced people falling under UNHCR responsibility was estimated at 25,1-million. However, available information suggested that a total of 67-million people had been forcibly displaced by the end of last year.
The report said the figures included 16-million refugees, of whom 11,4-million fell under the UNHCR's mandate and 4,6-million involved Palestinian refugees under the responsibility of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
The report said the number of internally displaced people was estimated at 51-million worldwide. Of these, 26-million were displaced by armed conflict and 25-million by natural disasters.
There are also about 12-million stateless people worldwide, although they are often not considered as displaced.
The vast majority of refugees were hosted by neighbouring countries, with more than 80% remaining within their region of origin. This also indicated that the number of urban refugees continued to grow.
About half of the refugee population was in urban areas at the end of last year.
The report is limited to populations for whom the UNHCR has a mandate, and its authors have conceded it does not provide a comprehensive picture of global forced displacement.
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The report blamed some industrialised countries for lacking a dedicated refugee register.
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