People fleeing violence pass through a transit center in northern South Sudan. The number of internally displaced people in the world has reached an unprecedented level Refugees and Migrants
At the end of 2023, the number of internally displaced people worldwide stood at an unprecedented 75.9 million. This is stated in the report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Internal Displacement Monitoring Center published on Tuesday.
Almost 47 million new internal displacements were recorded in 2023, highlighting the urgent need to protect internally displaced people and prevent future mass exoduses.
“This report is a stark reminder of the need for urgent and coordinated scaling up of disaster risk reduction, supporting peacebuilding, ensuring the protection of human rights and, where possible, preventing displacement before it occurs,” said the Deputy Director-General of the International Organization for Migration Please Daniels.
A global report shows that armed conflict and violence displaced 20.5 million people last year. Of this number, almost 30 percent were in Sudan and 17 percent in the Gaza Strip.
Natural disasters also lead to the exodus of millions of people every year. In 2023, Cyclone Freddy in southeast Africa, earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and Cyclone Mocha in the Indian Ocean displaced 26.4 million people, accounting for 56 percent of total new internal displacements. Displacement caused by natural disasters has increased in high-income countries, as exemplified by Canada, where an unprecedented wildfire season led to the exodus of 185,000 people.
In the coming The number of people displaced by natural disasters is expected to increase over the years as the frequency, duration and intensity of natural hazards become more severe in the context of climate change. “We are already seeing new tragedies in Brazil and Kenya,” the IOM noted.
The international community needs more accurate data to understand, prevent, manage and address domestic displacement during conflicts and disasters, the report’s authors point out.
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