New global conflict displacement doubles last year

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) - The number of people displaced due to conflicts and violence reached nearly 12 million last year, almost double the figure of 6.9 million in 2016, a global report on internal displacement said Wednesday.

"New displacement due to conflict and violence reached 11.8 million in 2017, almost double the figure of 6.9 million in 2016," a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Wednesday.

Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Iraq accounted for more than half of the figure, the report said.

A total of 40 million people are estimated to be living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence as of the end of 2017.

According to report, Sub-Saharan Africa region accounted for 5.5 million of these new displacements, followed by the Middle East and North Africa with 4.5 million.

Another 2.9 million people inside Syria and another 1.3 million people in Iraq displaced due to conflicts last year, it said.

In Africa, 2.1 million people inside DRC and 857,000 people inside South Sudan displaced due to conflicts last year.

In Asia, 646,000 people inside the Philippines and 474,000 people inside Afghanistan displaced due to conflicts last year.

“Without renewed action, we risk failing millions of internally displaced people worldwide and holding back the development of the countries which host them," IDMC Director Alexandra Bilak said in a statement.

"The staggering number of people forced to flee from their homes due to conflict and violence must serve as an eye-opener to us all,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said.

According to report, disasters also displaced 18.8 million people in 135 countries last year.

"Of these, 8.6 million displacements were triggered by floods, and 7.5 million by storms, especially tropical cyclones. The worst affected countries were China with 4.5 million, the Philippines with 2.5 million, Cuba and the US each with 1.7 million, and India with 1.3 million displacements," the report said.