The UN High Commissioner for Refugees appealed on Thursday for more solutions to address forced displacement in his final address to the General Assembly.
Nearly four million people across Africa’s vast semi-arid Sahel region have been uprooted by a volatile mix of conflict, hunger and climate change, the UN warned on Friday, describing an unfolding protection and survival crisis that is pushing families to flee repeatedly.
With pockets of relative safety emerging in Sudan, over 1.3 million Sudanese people, including one million who were internally displaced and over 300,000 refugees, have returned home, according to UN agencies.
As returns of Afghan refugees and those living in refugee-like conditions from Iran and Pakistan increase – many forcibly – women and girls are arriving in a country where their rights, safety, and futures face severe threats, according to a new UN-led report.
Migration must be viewed as a core part of global development policy, not just a humanitarian response, says Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Although record numbers of people – over 122 million worldwide – have been uprooted due to war, violence and persecution, their ability to find safety and support is threatened more than ever.
Afghanistan stands at a critical juncture, where the large-scale return of refugees could either plunge the country deeper into crisis or contribute to a path of renewal and stability.
Thousands of lives have been “destroyed in the pursuit of supremacy”, as international humanitarian law has been “dismissed” and “cast aside”, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, on Monday.
