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"These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced
people, people being forced away by conflict, by persecution, by
different and increasingly complex forms of violence," said
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"Conflict remains a very, very deep driver of displacement."
In its report on global trends in forced displacement, UNHCR
said that there had been a yearly increase in the number of
people forcibly displaced over the last 12 years.
UNHCR estimates that forced displacement has continued to
increase in the first four months of 2024, and that the number
of those displaced is likely to have exceeded 120 million by the
end of April.
"Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics,
unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up,"
Grandi said, referring to the risk of new conflicts.
The conflicts that have driven displacement include the war in
Sudan, which Grandi described as "one of the most catastrophic
ones" despite garnering less attention that other crises. More
that 9 million people have been internally displaced and another
2 million have fled to neighboring countries including Chad,
Egypt and South Sudan, Grandi said.
"People are arriving in the hundreds every day," he said,
referring to the influx of people seeking safety in Chad.
In Gaza, Israel's bombardment and ground campaign have caused
around 1.7 million people – nearly 80% of the Palestinian
enclave's population – to become internally displaced, many of
them multiple times.
Grandi warned that the possible crossings of Gazans into Egypt
from the southern border town of Rafah to escape Israel's
military offensive would be catastrophic.
"Another refugee crisis outside Gaza would be catastrophic on
all levels, including because we have no guarantee that the
people will be able to return to Gaza one day," Grandi said.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Tomasz
Janowski)
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