At the end of last year, the number of refugees around the world stood at 3.53 million, which is 80 million more than the previous year. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently disclosed this information. According to UNHCR, 52 percent of the total refugees came from three countries, including 65 lakh from Syria, 57 lakh from Ukraine and 57 lakh from Afghanistan. According to international law, refugees are those who are forced to leave their settlements or asylums to save their lives due to threats and risks.
To create awareness about the global refugee situation, the United Nations observes 20 June every year as World Refugee Day, which has been celebrated worldwide. In 1952, the United Nations prepared a Charter on the Rights of Refugees in Europe after the Second World War. In 1967, taking into account the global displacement phenomenon, the Charter became applicable to the entire world. The numbers went up to One and a half million refugees in 2011, more than doubling the number of refugees in a decade. When the Refugee Charter was prepared, there were only 21 lakh refugees in the world. The biggest refugee crisis is in Palestine. From 1947 to 1949, the Israeli Zionist forces displaced 753,000 Palestinians. Khalil Sarsour, a Palestinian refugee, said, "Maybe I will go back to my home in Jaffa (a place in Palestine) to Leed. I may be able to take my grandchildren and children there one day, but when and how, God knows.''
According to United Nations estimates in 1980, the number of refugees in the world reached one million for the first time. The war in Afghanistan and Ethiopia took this number to two million in 1990. The number of refugees remained fairly constant over the next two decades. But the US campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, the Iraq campaign by the Anglo-US forces in 2003 and the civil wars in South Sudan and Syria increased the number of refugees. By the end of 2021, this number was three crore. The influx of refugees from Ukraine in less than a year in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war is the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II. While Ukraine received 5.7 million refugees in one year, Syria took four years to reach this number. Besides, another 60 lakh people have been internally displaced. 34-year-old Katerina Miakutykova moved to Poland days after the war began with the Russian invasion of Kiev. Now she Lives in London with her children. Türkiye is currently the world's largest host country for refugees. They have sheltered 36 lakh refugees. Iran is second with 34 lakhs and Jordan is third with 30 lakhs. It is also known that 76 percent of the total refugees are in low and middle income countries. Except 70 percent went to neighboring countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Philippe Grandi, said, "There is a common saying that refugees go to rich countries. But this is factually incorrect information.'"