The UN refugee aid program at the end of the year is a sad one.
More than 80 million people worldwide are currently on the run from violence, war and conflict – more than ever before. Since 2019, the number of refugees alone has increased by ten million people.
► The reason for the dramatic increase: the growing number of trouble spots worldwide.
The fires in the Greek refugee camp Moria made more than 12,000 residents homeless, according to the UN refugee aid report. The civil war in Ethiopia last week caused 53,000 people to cross the border into Sudan. And in the Mediterranean there are more than 1,000 dead or missing refugees this year.
The corona pandemic is worsening the humanitarian crisis. The economic crash hit those hardest, in particular, who had no social and financial security. For many of the refugees, the pure struggle for survival is now the top priority. “We cannot leave these people alone,” said the managing director of UN refugee aid, Peter Ruhenstroth-Bauer.
In addition, the crisis in the Sahel zone in countries such as Mali, Chad and Niger “largely ignored by the global public” has worsened dramatically: Almost 3.6 million people are currently on the run there. In addition, new conflicts arose in 2020 – as in Ethiopia (53,000 refugees in the past few weeks in Sudan alone).
And the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, which have been going on for years, do not seem to end anytime soon.
► At the same time, more and more money is needed to care for the people in need: This year, the financial needs of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to help the refugees amounted to more than nine billion US dollars, explained the UN refugee agency . By the beginning of December, only around half of the funds required were available.