'65 million displaced by global conflicts'
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A woman sits with a child on her laps by railway tracks at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni where thousands of refugees and migrants are stranded on March 8, 2016. © AFP
The UN refugee agency says the number of people displaced by persecution and conflicts worldwide has hit a new record, with 65.3 million people forced from their home as of the end of 2015.
According to Press TV, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a report on Monday “This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed,” adding the number of people displaced globally rose by 5.8 million through 2015.
The report, entitled Global Trends, said that the tally is greater than the population of the United Kingdom – or of Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined.
According to the report, three countries of Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia produce most of the numbers.
It further said that children made up an astonishing 51 percent of the world’s refugees last year, many of whom were separated from their parents or traveling alone.
According to the Geneva-based agency, on average 24 people were forced to flee each minute in 2015, four times more than a decade earlier, when six people fled every 60 seconds.
“More people are being displaced by war and persecution and that’s worrying in itself, but the factors that endanger refugees are multiplying too,” said UNHCR Chief Filippo Grandi.
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