According to the 2020 Global Report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in 2019 the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the globe reached a total of 50.8 million. 45.7 million as a result of conflict and violence the highest number on record, and according to the first ever global estimate 5.1 million as a result of disasters.
Conflict and violence sparked displacements in Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia as well as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. With a total of 45.7 million people, 2019 saw the highest ever recorded level of displacement due to violence and conflict.
In 2019, 23.9 million new displacements were triggered by weather-related calamities (extreme temperatures, landslides, droughts and wildfires). Most of them took place as pre-emptive evacuations but many has become prolonged situations due to long-term impact on habitations and communities. At the end of the year, 5.1 million people were displaced across 95 countries as result of disasters.
The report highlights that 2019 was also a year of notable actions to face internal displacements including the reinforcement of the political commitment through an improvement of the national policy frameworks and the inclusion of displacement in the country development plans as for Afghanistan, Iraq and Philippines. At the same time, the strengthening of multilevel capacity together with the improvement of quality information available on internal displacement constituted essential steps forward to find effective solutions against this growing phenomenon.
For further information:
- ECRE, Thousands of People Displaced as Conflict Flares Up in North Western Syria, May 2019
- ECRE, Displacement and Ebola Outbreak in the Conflict Ridden North Kivu Province of Congo, May 2019
Photo: IDMC
This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin . You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.