UN estimates more than 100 million forcibly displaced people

For the first time in history, more than 100 million people have been forcibly displaced by armed conflict, violence, attacks on human rights or persecution of any kind. A "staggering" figure, according to the head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, and one that should be an immediate "call to action".

The war in Ukraine has resulted in a "record that should never have been broken", according to Grandi.

"These 100 million displaced people must be a call to action to resolve and prevent these destructive conflicts, end persecution and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes," he said.

According to new UNHCR data, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide rose to 90 million by the end of 2021, driven by new waves of violence or protracted conflicts in countries such as Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Burma, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, has displaced eight million inside the country, and another six million have left. In total, UNHCR recalls, this displacement figure is equivalent to the world's fourteenth most populous country.

The data includes refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the 53.2 million people displaced within its borders by the conflict.

"The international response to people fleeing the war in Ukraine has been overwhelmingly positive, the compassion lives on. We need a similar mobilisation for all crises around the world, but ultimately humanitarian aid is a palliative, not a cure," says Grandi.

"To reverse this trend, the only answer is peace and stability, so that innocent people are not forced to gamble between grave danger at home or precarious flight and exile," adds the UNHCR chief.