now the number of people fleeing wars
violence or civil disorder rose again
last year even as the coronavirus
pandemic brought much of the world
to a standstill by the end of 2020 there
were
82.4 million people who were forcibly
displaced from their homes that's
according
to the united nations refugee agency and
as you can see that is
double the number that it was a decade
ago more than two-thirds of those
officially recognized as refugees
came from just five countries syria
venezuela
afghanistan south sudan and myanmar
our next report takes us to pakistan
which has hosted hundreds of thousands
of afghan refugees
for four decades
a small grocery store in this refugee
camp in pakistan
every day he checks his income and
expenses
he was about the same age as this child
when his family fled afghanistan some 40
years ago
today it's a distant memory
we had to get out of afghanistan there
was a war going on
so when the situation became worse we
fled
pakistan we've been able to live here
ever since
afghanistan after the soviet invasion in
1979
he has lived in the camp ever since it's
one of 20
in this province alone more than a
million afghans live in pakistan
they're largely on their own
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i would be lying if i said we got
financial support
the truth is we don't get any aid from
the pakistani government
now for the first time pakistan is
registering the afghan refugees residing
in the country
registered refugees are issued a
biometric identity card
many children born here have never been
registered at all
it's hoped the data will give
international aid agencies a clearer
picture
of the needs in the refugee community
this exercise we are collecting a most
updated
information of afghan refugees such as
education level vocational
skills also maybe language also
vulnerability
and this updated information is also
going to assist
us to better design from our activities
not only in pakistan but in afghanistan
when they return to afghanistan
pakistani authorities have tried to
encourage refugees to return home
nadine jazz is interviewing families to
see if they're ready to make the move
after nato troops leave afghanistan
their new id cards are only valid until
2023
in a questionnaire they're asked if the
situation in afghanistan
normalizes then do they want to leave
ninety percent of the refugees answer
with a no they do not want to go back to
their home country
for baha'i khan one thing is clear
he will only return home if there's
peace
they are the caminantes or walkers
millions of them have left venezuela
fleeing the country's humanitarian
crisis
now some of them are going back the
pandemic and political turmoil in
neighboring colombia has prompted a wave
of venezuelans
worn down by economic hardship to make
the journey home
i left with the goal of succeeding and
helping my family but now
prices are too high in colombia i could
not make ends meet
luis arias just made it back to
venezuela after walking for two weeks
with his family from the colombian
capital bogota
they survived on goodwill along the way
but that dried up
when they crossed the border
the situation at home is dire ngos say
that the country needs much more
international aid
to stave off crippling hunger financing
has been
way below what is necessary in regards
to the dimensions of the crisis in the
country
the numbers are shameful
even the aid that does reach venezuela
is hard to distribute
activist efforts are often hampered by
fuel shortages
violence corruption and political
meddling
according to the world food program
venezuela is among the four
worst countries in the world with food
insecurity
and the u.n predicts that by the end of
this year seven
million people could have left venezuela
making it the second largest migration
after syria yet humanitarian aid for
venezuela
is at its minimum andreina bermudez
thought about joining the exodus
but says the risk was and is too high
with young children
through her eldest daughter's school her
family received food and educational
supplies from unicef until december
now they're hoping more aid can restart
the program
i noticed that when we received the aid
many parents were happy and thankful
mostly for the food because we could
give the children in our school
a balanced meal
to make ends meet this stay-at-home mom
relies on what she can't find
today a neighbor has extra eggs for sale
but the supply of cheap food is sporadic
we cannot buy imported products in
regular supermarkets at dollar prices
so we have to settle for small markets
near home
vegetable merchants and places that sell
at better prices
that is the venezuela the caminantes are
walking home to
a country still ravaged by economic
decline
it's people still struggling to feed
themselves still waiting for
international help
can speak now to chris melser he's a
spokesperson for the un's refugee agency
good morning chris thank you for joining
us we just saw a report
there with afghans who who fled conflict
and your report shows the bear's
mentioning again that the number of
people who
have been forced to flee their homes
rose again despite the pandemic so
what are the biggest drivers behind this
rise
yeah this is indeed these were very very
depressing numbers and
you already mentioned that um more than
two-thirds of the refugees are only from
from five countries and
the most of the of the refugees are
still from syria
six point seven million um the
another hotspot is for example is
venezuela where
also millions of people flew that
country
afghanistan south sudan these are all
these these drivers of the development
um the the plus is this year not not
that big like in other years but
yes 82.4 million this is the the
complete all the inhabitants of germany
or um
one percent of the human kind is is
now refugee or internal displaced person
and chris where are the majority of
these refugees ending up
and are they able to stay where they end
up
well the last question is a very
important question still the biggest
host country for refugees is turkey with
3.7 million refugees who found
protection there
most of them from from syria colombia is
another country
who accepted millions of people pakistan
as you mentioned in the um in the report
uganda and germany is
number five with 1.2 million refugees
farming protection in germany
but don't make a mistake 86 percent of
all the refugees 86 are in developing
countries
and these are very often also countries
who also suffer of problems with
malnutrition and other things but anyway
they are hosting
almost 9 out of 10 refugees another
staggering number chris is that
more than 40 percent of those who are
fleeing are children
many are born as refugees many are
stateless
what kind of impact does that have on
these children's futures
this is also depressing and i was many
refugee camps in bangladesh
i'm just returned from ethiopia and i've
heard from several
refugees around the world actually
parents telling me
forget us we are a lost generation they
do something for our children give them
education they have a chance
well we don't want to give up the
parents generation as well but indeed
education is the key factor for the for
the children so these
refugees will not stay refugees that
they become engineers pilots
doctors whatever um handyman but at
least that they have a future and that's
why this is also priority for us
unfortunately quite often we do not have
enough money to give more than just
basic education
yeah that is indeed troubling and chris
i want to ask you about something we saw
in a report the prospect of refugees
returning
back to their home countries we've also
seen denmark for example
declare parts of syria safe for refugees
to return so they're canceling residency
permits
so what happens to refugees who do
return so what are conditions like for
them
well this is very very different from
from country to country when it comes to
syria
we don't think that syria is in any way
um a safe place again that you can
return refugees against their word to
syria
in other places it might be possible for
example about a quarter million of
refugees returned last year and this is
of course a glimmer of hope
but unfortunately for for most of the
refugees
and about three quarters of all refugees
stay in the neighboring countries always
and i hope to
go back where they where they come from
very soon
for many of them this is unfortunately
um not
a near-time solution and i do want to
come back to germany because you
mentioned that this is a country that
also hosts
millions of asylum seekers it did
register fewer asylum seekers last year
but the u.n high commissioner for
refugees philippa grandia said
inclusion is key so just briefly if you
can chris
what is needed here to these tools that
are needed to make uh refugees in
germany feel at home
we just talked to paul landfield he's a
refugee in austria but i think it's the
same thing
um who came from hungary modern 60 years
ago
and he's now a well-known journalist in
austria and he said
integration is a key because refugees
are a treasure
so that's why refugees learn the
language
try to to to use your chances that also
the host community the germany on that
case austria
used this treasure integrate the people
teach refugees language and so on and
then
this is the best you can do because
integration is one part of the solution
for
the worldwide refugee problem chris
melzer from the unhcr thank you for
sharing your insights with us today
you