The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees published its annual report on 2022 Wednesday, June 14th, and its findings are instructive, with a series of sad records, 108.4 million people were forced to flee their homes.
The United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) reports 16.5 million additional displaced people worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of refugees is stable, with seven million people, UNHCR has recorded a 17% increase in internally displaced persons. The recent fighting in Sudan has further aggravated a situation already made extraordinary in 2022 by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The situation is very worrying for the victims of droughts, floods, and storms, their number has almost tripled, which is unprecedented. The year 2022 has been marked by the “La Niña phenomenon”, and a cooling in the eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to a series of calamities.
The Horn of Africa has experienced the most extended and worst drought in its history with five consecutive below-average rainy seasons. The result is two million more displaced people in the region. Livestock are dying, herders must become sedentary or change their lives to survive, the report says.
The West was seriously impacted by excessive rains, the floods affected populations already displaced by conflicts and food insecurity. Nigeria passed the two million mark, a record for a decade, as did Chad, which experienced the worst flooding in 30 years.