|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Jan24/01) Penang, 22 Jan (Kanaga Raja) — The United Nations Refugee Agency issued 43 emergency declarations in 29 countries in 2023, the highest annual number of declared emergencies in the last 10 years. According to its Emergency Preparedness and Response in 2023 report, released on 19 January, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it dispatched 7.4 million relief items to serve up to 16.7 million people around the world. From its seven global stockpiles, UNHCR delivered emergency supplies worth $53.5 million, it added. It said despite raising over $5 billion, including $4.6 billion for emergencies and protracted crises, a $400 million shortfall by year-end has hindered aid delivery to the record 114 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. To stay ready to respond, UNHCR said it also strengthened proactive emergency preparedness, conducting risk assessments, monitoring global developments, and planning for 28 countries at high risk of emergency. It doubled emergency training events, trained 393 emergency experts, and centrally procured $302 million worth of goods and services. “Over the past year, we have seen a staggering increase in emergencies, with new crises unfolding and un-resolved ones deteriorating, pushing the boundaries of our capacity to respond,” said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR Director of External Relations. “Whether sparked by conflict, human rights violations, natural disasters or extreme weather events, these emergencies have resulted in a surge of displacement, leaving countless individuals and families in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection,” she added. “The scale of human suffering is unmeasurable and a stark reminder of the imperative for collective action and solidarity,” said Ms Hyde. According to UNHCR, in 2023, it responded to multiple crises globally, aiding millions affected by earthquakes in Syria, Turkiye, and Afghanistan, a new conflict in Sudan and flare-ups of old conflicts in Karabakh and Somalia, a protracted but deteriorating crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), increasing mixed movements of refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean, and floods in Libya and the Horn of Africa. UNHCR said it provided 2.9 million relief items to people affected by the earthquakes in Turkiye, in addition to counseling for 17,400 refugees and cash assistance for 39,100 people. According to the UNHCR report, on 6 February 2023, two powerful earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.5 magnitude struck Kahramanmaras province in south-east Turkiye. The earthquakes hit early in the morning while most people were in their beds sleeping, leaving many trapped as buildings collapsed. The report said the earthquakes – which struck in the peak of winter – impacted 15 million people over the 11 hardest-hit provinces in Turkiye, which hosts the largest refugee population in the world. More than 1.7 million refugees, mostly Syrians, reside in the affected provinces, it added. In Syria, UNHCR provided protection aid to 311,000 people, relief kits to 240,800 people and tents to 53,000 people in the north-west. In Syria, an estimated 8.8 million people were affected by the earthquakes, including in north-west Syria where over 4.1 million people were already dependent on aid, compounding the devastation of 12 years of crisis, it said. Over 57,000 people lost their lives across both countries, and tens of thousands were injured, said UNHCR. In Ethiopia, UNHCR said that it relocated close to 50,000 Somali refugees to safer areas, ensuring essentials like biometric registration, water, and shelter – with the support of 17 staff on emergency deployment. In February 2023, fighting from a political dispute in Laascaanood, Somalia, forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee within Somalia. Close to 100,000 refugees crossed the border into the Doolo zone in the Somali region of Ethiopia, UNHCR said. It said most were women, children – many of them unaccompanied – or older people, arriving with nothing to an extremely remote and drought-affected area. In the DRC, UNHCR said that it built transitional shelters for 40,000 people and relocated 14,000 vulnerable displaced individuals to safer areas. UNHCR said that in 2023, violent clashes between non-state groups and government forces drove hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in eastern DRC, adding to the suffering of millions of vulnerable people subjected to the violence of militia groups active in the area. The situation further deteriorated since October, and ongoing fighting between the Congolese army and non-state armed groups in the eastern DRC continues to displace populations in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, where over 7 million people are affected by the conflict and 5.8 million were forced to flee. UNHCR said that with at least 6 million internally displaced people, and more than 1 million Congolese refugees who sought refuge in other countries in Africa, the DRC remains the largest internal displacement crisis in Africa and one of the world’s most complex and long-standing humanitarian emergencies. In Myanmar and Bangladesh, UNHCR said it provided shelter supplies and distributed aid to people affected by Cyclone Mocha, assisting over 4,500 Rohingya refugee families whose shelters were damaged. On 14 May, Cyclone Mocha made landfall near Sittwe, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, with heavy rains and strong winds that had a devastating impact on homes and infrastructure. UNHCR said in Myanmar, an estimated 7.9 million people were impacted, with 3.4 million considered to be the most vulnerable and in need of humanitarian assistance. In Bangladesh, some 2.3 million people were residing in areas affected by the cyclone, including some 930,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. In Sudan, it aided over 455,000 internally displaced and 721,000 refugees inside Sudan, and built 11 sites and upgraded another 10 in neighbouring countries to receive new arrivals. It said that fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, ongoing since 15 April 2023, forced nearly 7.2 million people from their homes by the end of the year, exacerbating an already grave humanitarian crisis. “Mid-December clashes in Wad Madani, capital of Sudan’s Al Jazirah State, caused the swift displacement of 300,000 people in this area previously considered safe.” By the end of December, the situation inside Sudan remained dire, with half of Sudan’s population – 24 million people – in need of humanitarian assistance and on the brink of famine, said the report. It said health services continued to be severely affected, with up to 80% of conflict-affected hospitals no longer operational and 60% of the population unable to access healthcare. UNHCR said by the end of the year, nearly 1.4 million people fled to neighbouring countries, predominantly women and children, bringing the number of forcibly displaced people across the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan to over 17.4 million. Many had faced displacement even before the onset of the current conflict, it noted. In Libya, UNHCR said it expanded aid efforts in response to devastating floods, providing mental health support, and reaching 77,800 affected people with vital relief items. It said on 10 September 2023, Storm Daniel made landfall in the eastern coast of Libya, causing intense winds, torrential rains and flash floods. The worst-affected city was Derna in the north-east, where the bursting of upstream dams led to mud-slides which washed away entire neighbourhoods. At least 40,000 people were displaced by the floods – 30,000 in Derna alone – while close to 900,000 people in five provinces were directly affected by the storm and flash floods in Libya and in need of aid, said UNHCR. Meanwhile, in Armenia, it supported registration of new arrivals, undertook protection monitoring and provided 79,400 emergency supplies to 17,130 refugees, including foldable beds and kitchen sets. Following a flare-up of decades-long conflict in Karabakh in the last week of September, over 100,000 people fled to Armenia within a week – with an average of 15,000 arrivals per day, said the report. While Armenian authorities reported that the flow into Armenia largely ceased after 30 September, immediate humanitarian needs remained dire. Refugees arrived exhausted and distressed, having fled their home in haste and following the nine-month closure of the Lachin road, it added. “The lack of access to food, medicines, and other essential items during that time exacerbated their medical and psychological needs.” In the Horn of Africa, UNHCR said that it distributed emergency relief, dignity kits, cash-for-shelter repairs, and flood protection sandbags to affected communities, including transitional shelter for 1,200 displaced people in Dollow, Somalia. The ongoing impacts of the climate crisis in the Horn of Africa continue to severely affect millions of refugees, internally displaced people and their host communities, said UNHCR. The report said that barely months after the longest and most severe drought on record – the effects of which are still being felt – heavy rains and severe floods hit the Horn of Africa throughout November, causing displacement and widespread destruction across a region already hard hit by conflict. More than 5.2 million people were affected, with nearly 2 million displaced across the broader Eastern Africa region, with Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya being the most impacted countries. UNHCR said more than 1.1 million displacements were recorded in Somalia in November alone. Homes were extensively damaged or destroyed and, in some locations, people took shelter under trees on higher ground. It said in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, authorities estimated that over half a million people had been affected by flash floods. Around 240,000 people, including those seeking safety from ongoing conflict in Somalia, were displaced. In Afghanistan, UNHCR said it provided 1.1 million people with cash aid, relief items, and community programs, reaching 2,000 families in earthquake-stricken Herat with supplies. It also assisted 61,600 Afghans forcibly returned from Pakistan. Afghanistan has now suffered over 40 years of conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty, and food insecurity, it said. More than two-thirds of the population needed humanitarian aid by the end of the year – over 3.2 million people are internally displaced, and more than 500,000 are Afghan refugee returnees, it added. In early October, two powerful earthquakes struck Herat Province, killing more than 1,400 people, destroying 10,000 homes and placing 114,000 people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Also in October, the Government of Pakistan announced that it would deport all undocumented people residing inside the country by 1 November. More than 478,800 Afghans returned to Afghanistan between mid-September and the end of December. Among them, over 29,000 people were deported by Pakistani authorities, said UNHCR. In Latin America and the Caribbean, UNHCR said that it bolstered border presence, offering legal aid, shelter, relocation support, and cash assistance to 700,000 vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the past four years. A humanitarian emergency continued to unfold in the Americas in 2023, with the Darien region of Panama being at the epicentre of a large and complex movement of people across the continent. As of December 2023, the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Darien jungle reached an unprecedented 500,000 – more than double last year. UNHCR said in the first nine months of 2023, more than 60% of those who moved towards Central and North America, crossing Panama’s Darien Jungle, were from Venezuela. As of December, there were over 7.7 million Venezuelans outside their country. More than 6.5 million reside in Latin America and the Caribbean. With the upward trajectory of 2023 emergencies poised to persist in 2024 and the number of forcibly displaced people expected to rise to 130 million by the end of the year, the need for solidarity and support for people forced to flee has never been as important as it is today, UNHCR emphasized. +
|
||
