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UNHCR / GLOBAL DISPLACEMENT RECORD
STORY: UNHCR / GLOBAL DISPLACEMENT RECORD
TRT: 04:02
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 JUNE 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
13 JUNE 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Med shot, Grandi walking to the podium, press room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“89 million is the figure in the report related to 2021. But even without Ukraine, we were already on a very high figure, unfortunately, higher than the previous year. And this trend has been going on now for several years.”
5. Close up, hands tapping on the computer
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Remember, we are now all focused on Ukraine very much, but Ukraine comes after a line of other emergencies. We had Ethiopia at the end of 2020 and through 2021. We had the Afghanistan situation in the summer of last year and many others, of course. in particular, we had a whole bunch of unresolved crises that account for a lot of the displacement that we continue to report.”
7. Med shot, Grandi talking to the audience, press room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Unfortunately, the Russian invasion, this is another consequence of the Russian invasion, has created needs not only for Ukrainians but for many other vulnerable people around the world and organizations like mine, like WFP, like UNICEF, that have to respond, we need more resources. It cannot be the same resources as last year. We need more resources.”
9. Med shot, Journalists, camera persons, press room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Ukraine generated a fairly extraordinary response from all points of view. But perhaps the most interesting part of this response has been that Europe, a continent in which many leaders have told me for six and a half years since I am in this job, remember, I came in the middle of the other influx, and they've told me it's full. You know, we can't take anybody anymore. A boat of 40 poor souls arrives in Sicily, and then they're bickering on the phone on who takes how many for how long?”
11. Med shot, participants, speakers, press room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“And now, all of a sudden, how is it possible in six weeks or whatever, six, seven million people come in, and they're taken in. There have been problems. We know that there have been problems, but by and large, they've been taken in generously. They've been taken in effectively. Temporary protection was a very, very smart move on the part of the European Union, and therefore it's possible.”
13. Med shot, participants, press room
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“We are declaring what in technical terms is called the secession clause for Ivorian refugees.”
15. Close up, hands writing
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“The situation has improved, it is not perfect, but it has improved. Most of the people have gone back voluntarily. Many with our help. Those that are have not gone back can now stay in the neighboring countries and will be progressively naturalized. Now, this is a solution. This is the solution of a previously large displacement situation. So completely counter-trend.”
17. Close up, hands taping on the computer
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“I want to go and say it's possible once again, it's possible if there is political will, if conflicts are, you know, end because there is a political solution and through the cooperation of countries in the region and the support of donors. It's a rare, almost unique win-win.”
19. Close up, Camera screen filming, Grandi in the background
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said today (16 Jun) that the number of people forced to flee their homes has increased every year over the past decade and stands at the highest level since records began, a trend that can only be reversed by a new, concerted push toward peace-making.
By the end of 2021, those displaced by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuses stood at 89.3 million, up 8 percent from a year earlier and well over double the figure of 10 years ago, according to UNHCR's annual Global Trends report.
Since then, the Russian invasion of Ukraine – causing the fastest and one of the largest forced displacement crises since World War II – and other emergencies, from Africa to Afghanistan and beyond, pushed the figure over the dramatic milestone of 100 million.
"Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed," said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
"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.”
Last year was notable for the number of conflicts that escalated and new ones that flared; 23 countries, with a combined population of 850 million, faced medium- or high-intensity conflicts, according to the World Bank.
Meanwhile, food scarcity, inflation, and the climate crisis are adding to people’s hardship, stretching the humanitarian response just as the funding outlook in many situations appears bleak.
The number of refugees rose in 2021 to 27.1 million. Arrivals climbed in Uganda, Chad, and Sudan, among others. Most refugees were, once again, hosted by neighbouring countries with few resources.
The number of asylum seekers reached 4.6 million, up 11 percent.
Last year also saw the 15th straight annual rise in people displaced within their countries by conflict, to 53.2 million.
The increase was driven by mounting violence or conflict in some places, for example, Myanmar.
The conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray and other regions has spurred the flight of millions within the country. Insurgencies in the Sahel drove fresh internal displacement, particularly in Burkina Faso and Chad.
The speed and volume of displacement are still outpacing the availability of solutions for those displaced – like return, resettlement, or local integration.
Yet the Global Trends report also contained glimmers of hope. The number of refugee and IDP returns increased in 2021, returning to pre-COVID-19 levels, with voluntary repatriation having surged 71 percent, though numbers remained modest.
“While we’re witnessing appalling new refugee situations, and existing ones reigniting or remaining unresolved, there are also examples of countries and communities working together to pursue solutions for the displaced,” Grandi added.
"It's happening in places – for example, the regional cooperation to repatriate Ivorians – but these important decisions need to be replicated or scaled up elsewhere."
And although the estimated number of stateless people grew slightly in 2021, some 81,200 acquired citizenship or had it confirmed – the biggest reduction in statelessness since the start of UNHCR’s IBelong campaign in 2014.
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