human rights
UNHCR: Record number of refugees is a sign of poverty in the world
Refugees in one of the tents of a temporary refugee shelter in Bensheim, Hesse. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
More and more crises are forcing more and more people to flee, millions worldwide. However, governments could take the pressure off the asylum systems, says the UN refugee agency – and also explains how.
The number of crises worldwide is growing and with it the number of refugees: more people are currently being driven from their homes than ever before, as the UN refugee agency UNHCR reported on Wednesday in Geneva. Around 110 million people are fleeing, two thirds of them in their home countries, one third mostly in neighboring countries. In June 2022, the number was around 100 million.
According to the UNHCR, the reasons for fleeing are war, violence and persecution. Many crises are exacerbated by the consequences of climate change, for example when old tensions resurface in disputes over dwindling resources. The UNHCR demands that the causes of flight be better tackled. The numbers are devastating, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. “It’s an indictment of the state of our world.”
The payment
Last year (by the end of 2022), three quarters of all refugees who had crossed borders were in low- and middle-income countries, according to the UNHCR in its Global Trends report. It is wrong to claim that everyone is going to the rich countries of Europe or North America, said Grandi. “It is precisely the poorest countries that show the greatest willingness to accept and bear the greatest burden,” said Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) in Berlin. “That’s why we have to show solidarity with the host communities.” Since 2014, the federal government has implemented 300 projects in 78 partner countries to support people fleeing and their host countries.
The total number of displaced people as of the end of 2022 was 108.4 million, almost 20 million more than a year earlier. In 2023, among other things, the displaced people in Sudan were added. Turkey took in the most refugees and those in need of protection in 2022 (3.6 million), followed by Iran and Colombia. Behind was Germany with 2.1 million. Most refugees come from Syria (6.5 million), Ukraine and Afghanistan (5.7 million each).
What to expect
The Sudan crisis worries him, said Grandi. A power struggle has been raging there between the President and the former Vice President since mid-April. More than 1.4 million people have been newly displaced within the borders, in addition to the 3.7 million displaced before the crisis. Hundreds of thousands have already fled to neighboring countries. Grandi warned that the east of the country is known to be the territory of people smugglers. If law and order is not restored in Sudan soon, these smugglers could lure Sudanese onto the escape routes “to Libya and beyond.” Many refugee boats start from Libya towards Europe.
According to a survey by the children’s aid organization World Vision in 18 countries, the situation of displaced people and their children has deteriorated. The reasons are the consequences of climate change, the effects of the pandemic and inflation. The number of families who can no longer earn their own living has doubled within a year. “We are extremely concerned about the particularly high number of early marriages in Afghanistan and Niger,” said Kristina Kreuzer of World Vision.
solutions
Grandi criticized that hardly any political solutions to conflicts were found. For 5.7 million internally displaced persons, the flight ended last year, but only 340,000 refugees returned to their homeland from abroad. However, Grandi said that at least the pressure on overburdened asylum authorities could be reduced. If richer countries offered more legal avenues for migrants to immigrate, fewer of them would seek asylum. Many asylum seekers are rejected because asylum and similar protection is reserved for people fleeing war, conflict, persecution and violence.
That’s how the domestic and European politician of the FDP parliamentary group, Ann-Veruschka Jurisch, sees it. “The coalition has set itself the goal of reducing irregular migration and enabling regular migration into the labor market,” she said. The Skilled Immigration Act, which is being negotiated, should be a decisive step.
Legal migration routes would also reduce life-threatening escape trips. Only on Wednesday did it become known that dozens of migrants had drowned off Greece because their boat had capsized.
The planned reform of the EU asylum system
Grandi praised the fact that this topic, like the handling of legal migration in the EU, is finally making headway. In the future, the EU wants to hold asylum seekers who arrive from a country that is considered relatively safe in a reception facility under conditions similar to detention after crossing the border. After a quick examination of the applications, those that are rejected should be sent back immediately. Not everything is perfect, said the Italian, but at least the EU has agreed on something and there is movement on the subject of asylum and migration. But he added: “We clearly believe that asylum seekers should not be put in prison. Applying for asylum is not a crime.”