World Refugee Day brings scary stats

At the World Refugee Day, the UN refugee agency reported that in 2013 the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide exceeded 50 million for the first time in the post-World War II - six million more than the 45.2 million reported in 2012.

This massive increase was caused mainly by the war in Syria as well as new displacements as those seen in Africa – in particular in Central African Republic and South Sudan.

"We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict," said António Guterre, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "Peace is today dangerously in deficit. Humanitarians can help as a palliative, but political solutions are vitally needed. Without this, the alarming levels of conflict and the mass suffering that is reflected in these figures will continue."

The worldwide population of stateless people is not included in this figure of forcibly displaced people –because stateless doesn't necessarily correlate to being displaced. They are almost 3.5 million.

Internal displacement  amounted to a record 33.3 million people. For UNHCR and other humanitarian actors, helping these people represents a special challenge as many are in conflict zones.

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