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War-fuelled food crisis to add to ‘staggering’ number displaced

16 June 2022 08:25 (UTC +04:00)

UN refugee chief says more than 100 million people around the world are displaced as a result of war, persecution and other crises, APA reports citing Al Jazeera

The Russia-Ukraine war has pushed global displacement numbers above 100 million for the first time, and the UN warns the resulting food crisis could force even more to flee their homes.

Some 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, abuse and violence at the end of 2021, according to the UN refugee agency’s annual report on displacement, which was released on Thursday.

“If you have a food crisis on top of everything I have described – war, human rights, climate – it will just accelerate the trends I’ve described in this report,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told journalists this week, describing the figures as “staggering”.

“Clearly the impact if this is not resolved quickly will be pretty devastating.” Already, more people were fleeing as a result of rising prices and violent insurgencies in Africa’s Sahel region, he said. “It is already devastating,” Grandi added.

The numbers displaced – many of them within their own country’s borders – have more than doubled over the past 10 years, according to the UN.

“Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed,” Grandi said.

“Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue.” Grandi noted.