allAfrica.com                                                                               *       


Crises Throw Out 11 Million Refugees Globally - UNHCR


Daily Trust (Abuja)


NEWS
26 June 2008
Posted to the web 26 June 2008

By Onimisi Alao
Abuja

A new survey has found that 11.4 million refugees exist outside their countries
worldwide while 26 million others are displaced internally by conflict,
persecution, or natural disasters.

The Representative of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for Nigeria and
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr Alphous Malanda who
disclosed this in Abuja said the figures which were determined by the end of
last year showed an increase in the numbers of foreign refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) globally in the last two years.



"After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we
have now seen two years of increases," Malanda quoted UN High Commissioner for
Refugees Antonio Guterres as saying in London while kicking off activities to
mark World Refugee Day, which is today.

Malanda who spoke during a press briefing at the UN House in Abuja as part of
activities to mark the 2008 World Refugee Day disclosed that the number of
refugees under UNHCR's responsibility rose from 9.9 million to 11.4 million by
the end of 2007 while the global number of people affected by conflict-induced
internal displacement increased from 24.4 million to 26 million.

The Press Briefing was organized jointly by the UNHCR and National Commission
for Refugees (NCFR), Nigerian Government's intervention agency for the welfare
of refugees.

Chief executive of the commission, Hajia Hadiza Sani Kangiwa who did an
overview of the refugee situation in Nigeria said the incidence of internally
displaced persons (IDPs) was of much concern. "The IDPs situation is quit
disturbing," she said.

She was quick, however, in adding that work was on to tackle it. She said the
Federal Government would by next year come up with a befitting policy on it and
that Nigeria was among countries under the African Union (AU) deliberating on a
convention to address the IDPs phenomenon, a development she considered
significant.

"There are IDPs all over the world but no other region has come up with the
idea of an international convention on it, so African Union will be first in
that respect," she said.


  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                         Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       
Quantcast