Thursday, January 08, 2015
NAIROBI, (Xinhua) -- The number of refugees from Somalia and Sudan increased to 1.1 million and 670, 300 people respectively by mid 2014, with Somalia becoming the third largest refugee group worldwide, a UN refugee agency said Wednesday in a report.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its latest Mid-Year Trends 2014 report that the Somali refugees are mainly in Kenya (425,700), Ethiopia (244, 300), and Yemen (234,800) .
"The overall figure dropped by about 41,000 persons, mainly because of the spontaneous return of 10,000 Somalis and a verification exercise conducted among Somali refugees in Kenyan refugee camps," it said.
With an estimated 670,000 refugees at mid-year 2014, the number of Sudanese refugees remains relatively stable in relation to the start of the year (648,900).
"In contract, the outbreak of violence in South Sudan, which started in December 2013, triggered a major outflow into neighbouring countries," says the report.
The UNHCR notes that the overall number of South Sudanese refugees grew by 114,500 to 508,600 within a span of just six months.
"By the middle of the year, individuals from South Sudan had found refugee predominantly in Ethiopia (208,800), Uganda (141,400) , Sudan (82,000) and Kenya (75,700)," UNHCR said.
Globally, an estimated 5.5 million people became newly uprooted during the first six months of 2014, signaling a further rise in the number of people forcibly displaced.
The report shows that of the 5.5 million who were newly displaced, 1.4 million fled across international borders becoming refugees, while the rest were displaced within their own countries.
Taking into account existing displaced populations, data revisions, voluntary returns and resettlement, the number of people being helped by UNHCR stood at 46.3 million as of mid-2014 - - some 3.4 million more than at the end of 2013 and a new record high.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said economic, social and human cost of caring for refugees and the internally displaced is being borne mostly by poor communities, those who are least able to afford it.
"Enhanced international solidarity is a must if we want to avoid the risk of more and more vulnerable people being left without proper support," Guterres said.