41.3 MILLION PEOPLE DISPLACED GLOBALLY, SAYS IDMC REPORT

Date:

Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri

The Director of Internal Displacement Monitoring Cenre (IDMC), Alexandra Bilak has said that 41.3 million people are displaced inside their own countries; because of conflict and violence. The conflict affected countries include, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Syria and Yemen in the Middle East. Bilak in statement Friday in Maiduguri said that the number of people living in internal displacement worldwide by end of 2018, is the highest ever been. The IDMC global report, which was released on Friday in Geneva, said: “This is an increase of more than a million since the end of 2017 and 66 % more than the global number of refugees.” Bilak attributed the increasing global displacements of persons; to years of cyclical and protracted displacement, and high levels of new displacements that were recorded between January and December last year. He said IDMC recorded 28 million new internal displacements associated with conflict, generalised violence and disasters in 2018. “Ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria, and a rise in intercommunal tensions in Ethiopia, Cameroon and Nigeria’s Middle Belt region triggered most of the 10.8 million new displacements linked to conflict and violence,” said the report. According to it; internally displaced people (IDPs) who tried to return to their homes in Iraq, Nigeria and Syria during the year found their property destroyed, infrastructure damaged and basic services non-existent. “This year’s report is a sad reminder of the recurrence of displacement, and of the severity and urgency of IDPs’ needs. Many of the same factors that drove people from their homes now prevent them from returning or finding solutions in the places they have settled,” said Alexandra Bilak, IDMC’s director. Continuing, the report explained: “Extreme weather events were responsible for the majority of the 17.2 million new displacements associated with disasters in 2018. “Tropical cyclones and monsoon floods led to mass displacement in the Philippines, China and India, mostly in the form of evacuations. California suffered the most destructive wildfires in its history, which displaced hundreds of thousands of people. “A number of countries were affected by both conflict and disasters. Drought in Afghanistan triggered more displacement than the country’s armed conflict, and the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria was aggravated by flooding that affected 80% of the country.” Egeland also noted: “The findings of this report are a wake-up call to world leaders. Millions of people forced to flee their homes last year are being failed by ineffective national governance and insufficient international diplomacy.” He explained that because they haven’t crossed a border, they receive pitiful global attention. According to him, all displaced people have a right to protection and the international community has a duty to ensure it. The report also indicated that internal displacement is an increasingly urban phenomenon. While warfare in cities of Syria, Yemen and Libya accounted for much of the displacement recorded in the Middle East in 2018. He said that urban centres of Bangladesh; are also the preferred destination for many people fleeing the effects of climate change. “Such influxes present great challenges for cities and can aggravate existing risk factors,” he warned. He said people who fled fighting in rural areas of Afghanistan and Somalia faced abject poverty, tenure insecurity and onward displacement from flooding and evictions in Kabul and Mogadishu.

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