The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), says Africa is experiencing record levels of forced displacement, currently accommodating around one-third of the world’s forcibly displaced population.
Of the 117 million forcibly displaced individuals globally, approximately 41 million refugees and asylum seekers, along with 30 million internally displaced persons, reside within the African continent.
This count was disclosed by Lisa Fergusson, senior liaison advisor to the UNHCR, at a conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
She pointed out that Sudan is home to the world’s largest displacement site, with an estimated 13.4 million individuals displaced within the country.
Meanwhile, the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso has prompted refugee flows to countries like Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo starting in 2021.
Fergusson warns that if displacement issues remain unaddressed, they risk driving future instability, overstretching the already limited resources of host communities, and heightening tensions over access to land and essential services.
