The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says 123.2 million people worldwide were displaced at the end of 2024, representing a decade-high number.

The UN refugee agency’s latest report highlighted the sheer scale of the problem, noting “untenably high” displacements in the last year.

According to the report, 73.5 million people worldwide have fled within their own countries, and 42.7 million refugees are living beyond their borders.

The report showed that 73 per cent are hosted in low and middle-income countries, while 67 per cent are hosted in neighbouring countries.

“We are living at a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

Mr Grandi, however, said there were some “rays of hope” in the report despite the immediate impact of aid cuts in capitals around the world this year.

“This year, 188,800 refugees were permanently resettled into host countries in 2024, the highest number in 40 years,” the UN refugee chief said.

The report noted that the high number of refugees was largely driven by protracted conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine.

It said 9.8 million people returned home in 2024, including 1.6 million refugees and 8.2 million internally displaced people, mostly in Afghanistan and Syria.

While 8.2 million IDPs returning home represents the second-largest single-year tally on record, the report noted continuing challenges for returnees.

“For example, many of the Afghan and Haitian refugees who returned home in the past year were deported from their host countries,” the UNHCR report said.

The report emphasised that returns must be voluntary, and the dignity and safety of the returners must be upheld once they reach their area of origin.

The UN refugee chief said this requires long-term peace-building and broader sustainable development progress.

“The search for peace must be at the heart of all efforts to find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes,” Mr Grandi said.

He noted that in the last decade, the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide has doubled, but funding levels for UNHCR remained largely unchanged.

Mr Grandi explained that this lack of increased funding endangers already vulnerable displaced communities and further destabilises regional peace.

“The situation is untenable, leaving refugees and others fleeing danger even more vulnerable,” he said.

(NAN)