UN: 65M people displaced last year

(Special from The Hartford Guardian) — More than 65 million people were displaced and had to flee their home countries, according a United Nations reports released on last week.

That staggering figure represents the number of people in Britain and France, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report. The number of refugees rose by 5.8 million in 2015 over last year’s figure. And the 65 million displaced to date hits a record high, UN officials said.

The Commissioner also reported that many refugees are mainly displaced by rising violence, insecurity, and persecution.

Of the 65.3 million displaced, 21.3 million fled their home countries, and 40.8 million remain displaced inside their countries.

UN officials said the number of displaced refugees have jumped since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011.

And Palestinians are the largest group of refugees, at more than five million. Syrians are second, at 4.9 million, Afghans are next at 2.7 million, and Somalians at 1.1 million.

Outside the Middle East and Africa, there is also a growing number of refugees from Central America. In 2015, there was a 17 percent rise in those fleeing their homes.

In a statement to the press, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the war in Syria alone has displaced more than 11 million people – half of that nation’s pre-war population. Millions more have fled Daesh’s atrocities in Iraq, civil wars in Yemen and South Sudan.

Also, political violence in Burundi, and Boko Haram’s rampages through Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad have contributed to that staggering figure.

This article originally published in the July 4, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.