More than 100M people forcibly displaced in 2022: Report

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - In 2022, more than 100 million people were forced to flee their homes because of conflict, violence or disasters but they are rarely in the headlines, said the UN on Tuesday.

By 2050, climate change could force more than an estimated 216 million people to evacuate their homes, leave their current lives and livelihoods behind, and move to safer areas, according to a report released by the UN Development Program (UNDP).

At the end of 2021, 59.1 million people were forcibly displaced within their own countries.

"But this was before the war in Ukraine and other events that happened this year. Just the war in Ukraine has created six and a half million more IDPs, so it's a context of global crisis," Luca Renda, a senior UN adviser, said at a press conference.

"But at the same time, it's a context in which there is renewed commitment and political will to address internal displacement to bring these numbers down to reverse the trend,” he added.

In June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an action agenda on internal displacement, Renda said.

- Invisible crisis

The report, Turning the Tide on Internal Displacement: A Development Approach to Solutions, says: "This invisible crisis is due to gaps in development support."

It argues that longer-term development action is needed to reverse record levels of internal displacement, with millions more people predicted to be uprooted by climate change.

The internally displaced are struggling to cover their basic needs, find decent work, have a stable source of income, be healthy or send their children to school.

Women, children and other marginalized groups are suffering the most.

Analysis for the report came from data provided by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) from Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Somalia and Vanuatu.

It shows that a third of those people surveyed who were internally displaced fell into unemployment, and 68% say they do not have enough money to meet their household needs, while a third say their health worsened after they fled from home.

"More efforts are needed to end the marginalization of IDPs who must be able to exercise their full rights as citizens, including through access to vital services," said UNDP administrator Achim Steiner in the report.

The services include healthcare, education, social protection, and job opportunities.

"In tandem with critical humanitarian assistance, this stronger development-focused approach will be vital to set the conditions for pathways to lasting peace, stability, and recovery," said Steiner.