Editorial: Nowhere to run
As many as 110 million people have fled their homes owing to conflict, persecution, or human rights violations.
Earlier this week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees released some statistics regarding the state of people displaced by various crises globally. As many as 110 million people have fled their homes owing to conflict, persecution, or human rights violations. Filippo Grandi, who leads the UN refugee agency, revealed this ahead of the publication of the UNHCR’s Global Trends Report for 2022. He pointed out that the recent political upheaval in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is the latest addition to the refugee crisis.
Just last year, 19 million more people were forcibly rendered homeless, which included over 11 million people who fled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The development has turned out to be the fastest and largest displacement of people since World War II. In 2022, the agency recorded 35 emergencies, three to four times more than in previous years. Political unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia as well as Myanmar also accounted for displacing over million people within each country in 2022. Most of the people displaced globally have sought refuge within the borders of their nations itself. Around one-third of them – 35 mn people – have fled to other countries, turning into refugees.
A few days ago, 78 people died after a fishing boat packed with migrants hoping to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank in deep waters off the Greek coast. EU leaders vowed to crack down on migrant smugglers and traffickers, but human rights groups said such measures force refugees to take longer and more dangerous routes to reach safe countries. Most refugees are being hosted by low to middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, while rich countries in Europe and North America are enacting even more stringent legislations against asylum seekers.
This month, Japan’s parliament approved a revision to an immigration and refugee law that will permit the forced repatriation of asylum seekers after they are denied refugee status twice. Rights activists believe this could lead to their persecution of refugees at home. The UK continues to insist on its so-far failed plan to ship asylum-seekers to Rwanda, a prospect that the UNHCR is opposed to. In many countries, immigrants and refugees are being criminalised and blamed for everything that has gone wrong.
Currently, Turkey shoulders the burden of hosting most refugees with 3.8 million people on its shores, a majority of them being Syrians who fled the civil war. Tehran also hosts 3.4 million refugees, mostly Afghans. About 5.7 million Ukrainian refugees are also scattered across countries in Europe and beyond. The number of people who have been rendered stateless has also risen in 2022 to 4.4 million. The US, Spain and Canada recently spoke about initiatives to create asylum processing centers in Latin America aimed at reducing the number of people heading north to the Mexico-US border. Keeping up its facade as a beacon of hope for asylum seekers, the US received the most new applications for asylum in 2022 with 7,30,400 claims. However, it’s also the nation with the largest backlog in its asylum system.
Last week European leaders renewed financial promises to North African nations hoping to stem migration across the Mediterranean. The EU is also fiercely negotiating for a new migration and asylum pact, in spite of criticism from human rights groups. There might be light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to these measures. But, relief for refugees will be a long time in the making.
