Tens of millions of people were displaced within their countries in 2020 due to conflicts and disasters, with the total number setting a new record, according to a report by two non-governmental organizations.
According to Agence France-Presse, a joint report issued by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center and the Norwegian Refugee Council stated that the past year witnessed severe storms, conflicts and violence that forced 40.5 million people to flee within their countries, the highest number of additional displaced persons recorded in a decade, which raised The total number to 55 million, a record high.
The director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, Alexandra Belak, told France Press that “the numbers for the year were unusually large,” noting that the increase in the number of IDPs was “unprecedented.”
She indicated that the actual numbers may be higher due to the restrictions on movement obstructing the process of data collection and the fact that “fewer people went to the emergency shelters for fear of infection” with the virus.
“It is a shocking matter that someone was forced to flee his home inside his country every second of last year,” the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said in a statement. “We fail to protect people most at risk from conflicts and disasters,” he added.