More than 50 million people worldwide currently are refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced within their own countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday, in a new report released to mark World Refugee Day.
That figure is more than the entire population
More than 50 million people worldwide currently are refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced within their own countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday, in a new report released to mark World Refugee Day.
That figure is more than the entire population of Spain, South Africa or South Korea, or more than double the population of Australia.
The 51.2 million registered for 2013 is also 6 million more than the 45.2 million reported in 2012, according to the UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report — a big jump in the wrong direction.
The huge increase was driven mainly by the war in Syria. Major internal displacement was also seen last year in Africa, in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, where conflicts have taken on an increasingly ethnic nature.
“We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.
Three aid workers kidnapped in Somalia have been released after nearly two years in captivity. International Aid Services said the kidnappers seized their employees in July 2012 in Puntland, Somalia.
“Extended discussions with the actual kidnappers resulted in the release of the hostages,” the relief agency said in a statement.
The three were abducted while traveling in two cars that included three local police officers, who were wounded but not kidnapped during the attack.
The three hostages, Janet Kanga, Martin Kioko and Abdinoor Boru, were released Thursday, according to the relief agency.
There’s a network of freight trains that runs the length of Mexico, from its southernmost border with Guatemala north to the United States. And despite the many deadly challenges it poses, more and more children — both with adults and alone — have been making this risky journey. That prompted President Obama this week to warn of “an urgent humanitarian situation.”
It’s estimated that up to half a million migrants now ride The Beast each year, sitting back-to-back along the spine of the train cars, trying not to get knocked off their roof-top perch. These aren’t passenger trains; there are no panoramic windows, seats, or even a roof to guard from sun or rain. People call the train La Bestia or The Beast. Some call it the Death Train.
“People are taking the journey because you do want a better future and you’re willing to do whatever takes,” Lis-Marie Alvarado an immigrant from Nicaragua says. “There are a lot of people who aren’t going to make it.”
Many Beast riders have suffered physical injury or death falling off the train or getting sucked into the wheels trying to board it in motion. In some areas, that’s the only way on.
One of the things that strikes you is just how many kids are riding the train. … Most estimates predict more than 60,000 minors will be detained at the U.S. border this year alone. Most of those making this 1,450-mile trek are not from Mexico. They come from Central Americ