Number of world's refugees double that of ten years ago | DW News

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

[Music]

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