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Record Numbers of People Flee War, Persecution, Conflict

Lisa Schelin

   GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency reports nearly 71 million people
   around the world are now forcibly displaced by war, persecution and
   conflict. This is the highest level ever reached since the UNHCR was
   established nearly 70 years ago. The report comes ahead of World
   Refugee Day on June 20.

   The U.N. refugee agency calls the 70.8 million figure conservative
   because the Venezuelan crisis is not factored in. The agency explains
   some 4 million Venezuelans have fled their country, but very few have
   formally applied for asylum. Therefore, they are not counted in the
   refugee statistics.

   Last year, the report says war and strife forced nearly 26 million
   people, half of them children, to flee their countries and become
   refugees. More than 41 million more people were internally displaced,
   fleeing their homes, but staying inside their own nations.

   It says more than two-thirds of all refugees worldwide come from just
   five countries--Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia.

   For the fifth consecutive year, the report says Turkey hosted the
   largest number of refugees, followed by Pakistan, Uganda, Sudan and
   Germany. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, says an
   analysis of the statistics shows that wealthy countries do not shoulder
   the greatest refugee burden.

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