World Refugee Day Marked By Global Crisis: 45 Million Displaced Martin Michaels - MintPress News
go to original June 23, 2013

World Refugee Day: Children on the Run (unicef)

Ahead of World Refugee Day Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report showing that global refugee and internally displaced populations reached a 20-year high in 2012, with 45.2 million people who have fled their homes due to war, persecution and political conflict.

“War is the main reason for this very high number of refugees and people internally displaced. Fifty-five percent of them correspond to the well-known situations of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria,” said Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Guterres was in Jordan on World Refugee Day to stand with the people of Syria, who make up one of the largest refugee populations in the world due to the ongoing struggle between rebels and President Bashar Assad. The conflict has displaced 1.6 million people over the last 2 ½ years, according to the U.N.

Many have fled to neighboring Jordan, which is now home to more than 500,000 registered Syrian refugees. Most Syrian refugees in Jordan live in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, which has suddenly become Jordan’s fifth-largest city and the second-largest refugee camp in the world.

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