UNHCR puts global refugees at 122 million; runaways from Myanmar among the biggest contributor

(FILE pjoto) Rohingya refugees attend a ceremony organised to remember the second anniversary of a military crackdown that prompted a massive exodus of people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia on August 25, 2019. They clung on through years of conflict in Myanmar, but a surge of fighting has driven tens of thousands more Rohingya to flee, escaping with little more than harrowing tales of war. - AFP

BONN (dpa): The German partner of the UN's refugee body, the UNHCR, on Sunday put the number of refugees worldwide in 2024 at more than 122 million, up from 117.4 million last year.

Bonn-based UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe described the figures as "shocking" and noted that the numbers referred to people hoping for protection, security and a future.

"It is our joint task to offer these people protection and a future," the organization's head, Peter Ruhenstroth-Bauer, said in a statement.

Ruhenstroth-Bauer noted that Sudan was a major cause, with refugees fleeing the civil war that broke out in April 2023, displacing more than 11.8 million people.

The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar had also contributed to the high numbers, he said.

Conflict in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon had violently displaced more than 1.7 million people, he said. - dpa