World Refugee Day: 69 million people displaced
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says the South Sudan, Congo and Rohingya crises have raised the overall figure of forced displacements in 2017 to 68.5 million.
World Refugee Day, held every year on June 20, commemorates the struggles of millions of refugees who flee war, violence and persecution.
On Tuesday, the UN refugee agency reported that nearly 69 million people who have fled war, were forcibly displaced last year, a record for the fifth-straight year.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the continued crises in places like Syria, South Sudan and Congo, as well as the exodus of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar that started last year, raised the overall figure of forced displacements in 2017 to 68.5 million.
Of that total, 16.2 million were newly displaced last year – an average of more than 44,000 people per day. Most have been displaced for longer than that, some forced to flee multiple times.