(19 Jun 2019) A record 71 million people have been displaced worldwide by war, persecution and other violence, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday, an increase of more than two million from last year and an overall total that would amount to the world's 20th most populous country.
The annual "Global Trends" report released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees counts the number of the world's refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people at the end of 2018.
Launching the report in Berlin on Wednesday, the high commissioner, Filippo Grandi, said the new figures are "worrying".
"Very often we tend to think of the one big refugee crisis affecting the rich world - this is the perception that many people have, and it is wrong", he added.
Grandi said that between 80 and 90 percent of these 71 millions are not in rich countries, they are in poor and middle income countries, in countries that have less resources to address a refugee crisis.
The figures, coming on the eve of World Refugee Day, are bound to add fuel to a debate at the intersection of international law, human rights and domestic politics, especially the movement in some countries, including the U.S., against immigrants and refugees.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Grandi called the current situation in Libya a "vicious circle" and underlined that the UN is doing everything possible to help migrants and displaced in Libya.
Hundreds of African migrants caught in one of Libya's most notorious detention centres are pleading for help from the United Nations.
Grandi also stressed that Europe needs to find long-term and strategic solutions to deal with migrant flows.
"The solution is much more long-term and strategic, it is not just building restriction or worse: reducing rescue at sea capacity, which is really against all principles".
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