There are 89.3 million displaced people, twice as many as ten years ago

One: Moussa took his wheelchair and fled as fast as he could from the troubled Cabo Delgado, province of Mozambique. His friend Salimo helped him catch a flight to Pemba, where they now live far from their families.

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Two: Francys has become the leader of a small settlement in the north of Costa Rica. She, who has just given birth, is part of the 102 thousand Nicaraguans who applied for asylum in 2021.

Three: Hamida tries to rebuild her life in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladeshi. the refugee rohingya She left Myanmar three years ago because she no longer had anything to give her four children.

Until December of last year, 89.3 million people left their lives behind due to wars, environmental problems, economic, political and social crises, to seek their future elsewhere.

The figures are from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has just published its report on Global Trends on Displaced Persons. If you take into account the war that started in February between Russia and Ukraine, the number increases to 100 million.

In a context where 1 in 78 people is forced to flee their place of origin, tensions are inevitable. Peru and migration from Venezuela are a good example: according to the report, our country is home to 1.3 million Venezuelans (537 thousand have applied for refugee status and 5,800 already have it), which makes us the fifth nation of the world that receives the most refugees. In response, mayors have tried to illegally register them or prevent them from working in their jurisdictions. But there are also contrary voices. The same Ombudsman’s Office has said that it is necessary to avoid “criminalize and stigmatize migration” above all from the State, because that would create “insurmountable barriers for the exercise of rights of foreigners and their inclusion in the country”.

A Venezuelan migrant carries supplies to live, near the border with Brazil, Pacaraima. Bloomberg (Victor Moriyama/)

—The uncertain future—

Another issue that forced people to move is the difficult access to food. During the past year, the 55% of Afghans did not have enough money to eat, which would explain why 2.7 million had to flee their country. Global figures reveal the magnitude of the problem: 82% of internally displaced persons and 67% of refugees and asylum seekers departed from nations with food access problems. The worst thing is that 40% of this last group ended up staying in States that suffer from the same.

The journalist specializing in human rights Elizabeth Salazar proposes paying attention to Venezuelans in Peru and to the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. “Now that the food crisis has deepened, they are more vulnerable. Civil and religious organizations try to assist them with common pots, food cards or exchanges, but since their situation in the country is informal (due to lack of documentation and complications when entering the country), their options are limited.”.

Venezuelan migrants carry their belongings upon arrival at a refugee camp in Bogotá. AFP (RAUL ARBOLEDA/)

It is not their only problem: the Venezuelan community also has restrictions to insert their children in the education system. “There are organizations that estimate that 25% of migrant minors do not go to school”, adds Salazar. “This is a new generation with malnutrition problems and minimal academic training. This should concern us as a country: we are recipients of migrants and, in 10 or 15 years, we are going to feel the effects of a generation that did not receive attention in their basic needs”.

That of minors is certainly a serious problem, since 42% of the displaced in the world are children. In addition, it is estimated that every year 380,000 are born in refugee camps.

Source: Elcomercio