Displaced population worldwide has edged up despite pandemic

Restrictions have impeded humanitarian efforts to resettle people

The arrival of new refugees and asylum-seekers dropped steeply in most parts of the world last year.

According to the UN Refugee Agency’s annual global trends report, released Friday, there were 1.5 million fewer people who fled their homelands in 2020 than forecast.

However, that’s not because the world was anymore peaceful. The door to newcomers was often just shut.

Lockdowns, travel restrictions and border closures imposed worldwide during the COVID -19 pandemic have not only prevented many from fleeing war and persecution, but also greatly impeded humanitarian efforts to resettle and repatriate those who are displaced.

Overall, the world’s displaced population still edged to a record 82.4 million by the end of last year, up from 79.5 million in 2019.

It was “a difficult year for most people, but, for refugees, COVID-19 was an emergency on top of an emergency,” said Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR Representative in Canada, of the report’s findings ahead of World Refugee Day, which was Sunday.

“Despite lockdowns and calls for a global ceasefire, millions of women, men and children were forcibly displaced from their homes, as conflicts and persecution continued across the globe.”

At the peak of the pandemic during 2020, the report said some 164 countries had closed their borders, with 99 states, including Canada, making no exception for people seeking asylum. Currently, air travel to Canada is limited to Canadian citizens and permanent residents with few exceptions, while asylum seekers at the land border are turned back to the U.S. unless they meet a particular exemption.

Although the number of countries with a complete refugee ban came down to 63 by December, overall new asylum claims registered worldwide nosedived by 45 per cent to 1.3 million last year from 2.3 million in 2019. By year’s end, there were still 4.5 million cases pending a decision globally.

Restrictions on movement that were aimed at slowing the pandemic also led to the suspension of resettlement and voluntary repatriation programmes.

In total, only 3.4 million people — 3.2 million displaced in their own countries and 251,000 refugees abroad — returned home in 2020, compared to a total of 5.6 million returnees (5.3 million internally displaced and 317,200 refugees) who did so a year earlier.

The International Organization for Migration and UNHCR suspended resettlement departures amid border and travel restrictions during the pandemic. As a result, only 34,400 refugees were resettled to third countries in 2020, down 69 per cent from 107,800 the year before.

Today, 1.4 million refugees are awaiting resettlement because they can neither return to their homes nor stay in their current host countries.

The top five refugee source countries have remained the same: Syria, at 6.7 million; Venezuela, four million; Afghanistan, 2.6 million; South Sudan, 2.2 million; and Myanmar, 1.1 million. In total, they accounted for 68 per cent of the world’s refugee population.

“Behind each number is a person forced from their home and a story of displacement, dispossession and suffering. They merit our attention and support not just with humanitarian aid, but in finding solutions to their plight,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in a statement.

“We need much greater political will to address conflicts and persecution that force people to flee in the first place.”

Minors under the age of 18 currently account for 42 per cent of all forcibly displaced people. New UNHCR estimates suggest that almost one million children were born as refugees between 2018 and 2020 — many may remain refugees for years to come.