Unveiled situation with refugees and internally displaced persons in the world

Baku. 22 May. REPORT.AZ/ Conflict, violence and disasters caused 31.1 mln new internal displacements in 2016, Report informs citing the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the country worst affected, with a spike of 922,000 new displacements during the year alone. Next were Syria (824,000), Iraq (659,000), Afghanistan (653,000), Nigeria (501,000) and Yemen (478,000).

6.9 million new internal displacements caused by conflict in 2016, 2.6 million took place in Sub-Saharan Africa.

At the same time, according to the report, three times more people leave their homes because of natural disasters rather than military conflicts.

According to the authors of the report, due to climate change, the number of displaced persons will only grow in the future.

According to the head of the NRC, Jan Egeland, the number of internally displaced persons now exceeds the number of refugees, and this issue must be returned to the international agenda.