refugees
The conflict in Sudan and Israel’s savage war on Gaza has pushed the global number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to a record 75.9 million by the end of 2023, according to an NGO monitor.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported on Tuesday that the figure was a new end-of-year high, with the number of individuals displaced within their own borders increasing by more than 50% in the last five years.
The figure increased from 71.1 million at the end of 2022. Internal displacement refers to the forced transfer of individuals within their own country, as opposed to refugees who have fled overseas.
Over the last five years, the number of IDPs caused by conflict has risen by 22.6 million, with the two largest rises occurring in 2022 and 2023.
Sudan has the most IDPs recorded for a single country since records began in 2008, with 9.1 million, according to the monitoring organization. Almost half of all IDPs reside in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Over the past two years, we’ve seen alarming new levels of people having to flee their homes due to conflict and violence, even in regions where the trend had been improving,” said Alexandra Bilak, director of the IDMC.
“Conflict, and the devastation it leaves behind, is keeping millions from re-building their lives, often for years on end.”
The monitor also tracks the number of internal displacements, which are new forced movements of people within their borders. People might be displaced multiple times. Last year, there were 46.9 million forced movements of people, including 20.5 million internal displacements caused by war and violence and 26.4 million by catastrophes.
Fighting in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Palestinian territories accounted for roughly two-thirds of all new conflict-related migration in 2023.
By the end of 2023, 1.7 million Palestinians had been internally displaced in Gaza, with another 3.4 million on the move. The bloodiest Gaza conflict in history began in October of last year.
