World faced record number of humanitarian emergencies in 2023: UNHCR

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – The year 2023 has been exceptionally difficult for the humanitarian sector, with the world facing a record number of emergencies, according a top official of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

“When you look around the world, there are a number of crises and emergencies. We have been dealing with a record number of emergencies as an agency,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, head of the News and Media Section at UNHCR.

In an interview with Anadolu on the sidelines of the Stratcom Summit in Istanbul, Saltmarsh provided insights into the myriad of challenges faced by refugees around the world, shedding light on the worsening situation as the year draws to a close.

Emphasizing the alarming increase in displacement, he said over 114 million people had been forced to flee their homes worldwide by the end of September.

“If you look back to a decade earlier, 10 years earlier, that’s more than doubled. So, it’s a huge increase and it’s also increased this year,” he said.

“There are multiple crises and, of course, the situation in Gaza has only added to that sense of, in many ways, desperation,” he said, citing the February earthquakes in Türkiye, the “huge displacement” due to conflict in Sudan, the migration crises in the Mediterranean and Central America, and the situation with refugees in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Saltmarsh clarified that his agency does not have a mandate to work directly in Gaza, but added that the events there are of “huge concern.”

“We welcome the humanitarian pause and hope that the situation can stabilize and de-escalate in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

- The Mediterranean

Regarding the number of migrant crossings in the Mediterranean, he said the situation is of particular because of the people involved and the grave risks to their lives.

He said the UNHCR has been trying to promote an approach that looks at the challenges along the entire routes, be it the Mediterranean, Central America or parts of Asia.

The approach also aims to address the root causes of why people are leaving, he said.

“That’s a very difficult and deep-seated problem that involves and requires investment, development, financing and, of course, peace building and conflict resolution,” he said.

Part of the objective is to also to support people with humanitarian interventions and also to try to find “third country solutions,” he added.

Pressures have increased, particularly on Italy this year, which saw 128,000 arrivals, he said.

Saltmarsh stressed the need for the EU to put in place structures to ensure that asylum seekers’ claims are heard.

“If those are genuine claims, if refugee status is granted, the people can be received within Europe, not just by one state on the front line, but that responsibility is shared equally among the members of the European Union,” he said, adding that a number of asylum systems in Europe and in other parts of the world have become overburdened.

Speaking about the crisis seen a few months back on Lampedusa, he said that this has been a very difficult year for Italy, while stressing that the root causes of crossings through the Mediterranean have been changing over the years.

- Europe’s migration laws

Regarding migration-related laws introduced by European countries, he said that everything comes down again to sharing responsibility.

About the British government’s plan to move asylum seekers to Rwanda, he said: “We came out on a number of occasions criticizing it because we felt that it was externalizing the UK’s asylum responsibilities and putting a lot of pressure on Rwanda and the Rwandan asylum system.”

Concerns around countries in the Global North, which have more resources to deal with the increasing number of refugees, are still small compared to the less developed and less wealthy nations in the Global South, Saltmarsh added.

He emphasized that the major burden still lies very much with host countries that neighbor the ones where refugees are fleeing.

“When it comes to the countries of the Global North that are better resourced, we think that they should maintain their commitments under the Refugee Convention, allow people to claim asylum,” he said.

If those claims are valid, then they should be integrated into those society, he added.

Regarding the contrast in how Ukrainian refugees were welcomed in European countries as compared to others, he said it was logical that European nations would be their primary hosts because of the proximity.

“We have been concerned and made our criticisms clear when European countries have pushed back refugees, when they’ve taken steps to try to evade their responsibilities under international law, then we’ve been quick to call it out,” he said.

“It’s important that any refugee, whether they’re from Ukraine or whether they’re from sub-Saharan Africa or any other part of the world, is given the same right to seek asylum when they arrive on a territory.”

- Situation in Sudan ‘absolutely dire’

In Sudan, there has been massive displacement since a conflict broke out in April between the Sudanese military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

“The situation for refugees and internally displaced people is absolutely dire. There is a lack of health support. There is a lack of shelter and protection activities are really stretched,” said Saltmarsh.

He said one of the UNHCR’s major concerns at the moment are the massive human rights abuses, particularly in the Darfur region.

The conflict has caused huge displacement, with over 1 million people forced to flee the country and over 3 million more displaced internally.

“It’s a very difficult situation because access for humanitarians is very challenging within Sudan. Even on the borders in countries like Chad and South Sudan, Central African Republic, logistically getting to those places and getting assistance and protection activities in has been extremely difficult,” said the UNHCR spokesman.

He pointed out that a lack of funding was a huge concern as Sudan is “a huge country with multiple borders, where providing humanitarian support is very expensive.”

- Winter and the future

Saltmarsh said the coming winter is another major challenge for global refugees as the need for shelter, warm clothes and other resources becomes much more critical.

“It’s important that those refugees who are in such situations, that are going to be suffering winter conditions, are given the support that they need,” he said.

“We talk about the displaced inside Afghanistan, that’s a huge humanitarian crisis. The Afghan refugees who are in Iran and Pakistan … those in Ukraine in particular and in the Middle East … the Syrian refugees who have been displaced for well over a decade now, in many cases, and the conditions have been deteriorating and needs are rising.”

Poverty levels are also increasing, he added, which “is a big concern in terms of next year.”

Saltmarsh said UNHCR will host the Global Refugee Forum next month in Geneva, with refugees, heads of UN agencies, heads of state and governments, to focus on solutions.

For the coming year, he said the main hope is that there can be a resolution to many of the conflicts plaguing the world.

“We always try to be optimistic and hope that there’s resolution to many of these conflicts that we’ve seen, and that protracted situations … can be relieved, and that we don’t see conflagration of new conflicts, but it’s impossible to say what next year is going to bring,” he concluded.