UNHCR: 800,000 new refugees in 2011

United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has issued its 'Global Trends' report, ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20,  revealing that 2011 saw the highest number of newly created refugees since 2000. An estimated 800,000 people became refugees last year in a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 with conflicts in Ivory Coast, followed by Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. A total of 4.3 million people were newly displaced in 2011, according to the UNHCR, with 800,000 fleeing their countries and becoming refugees. UNHCRs Global Trends 2011 report details for the first time the extent of forced displacement from a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Côte d'Ivoire, and was quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. In all, 4.3 million people were newly displaced, with a full 800,000 of these fleeing their countries and becoming refugees. Four-fifths of the world's refugees flee to neighbouring countries, with Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo topping the list of refugee producers. High populations of refugees can be seen in countries they border, such as Pakistan, Iran, Kenya, and Chad. Overall, Afghanistan remains the biggest producer of refugees (2.7 million) followed by Iraq (1.4 million), Somalia (1.1 million), Sudan (500,000) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (491,000). "2011 saw suffering on an epic scale. For so many lives to have been thrown into turmoil over so short a space of time means enormous personal cost for all who were affected," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in a statement on the organisation's website. "We can be grateful only that the international system for protecting such people held firm for the most part and that borders stayed open. These are testing times." The overall number of refugees, internally displaced citizens or people seeking asylum was 42.5 million - down from 43.7 million people in 2010 - but this number has remained above 42 million for the past five years, a trend that the UNHCR describes as "worrying." Worldwide, 42.5 million people ended 2011 either as refugees (15.2 million), internally displaced (26.4 million) or in the process of seeking asylum (895,000). Despite the high number of new refugees, the overall figure was lower than the 2010 total of 43.7 million people, due mainly to the offsetting effect of large numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) returning home: 3.2 million, the highest rate of returns of IDPs in more than a decade. Among refugees, and notwithstanding an increase in voluntary repatriation over 2010 levels, 2011 was the third lowest year for returns (532,000) in a decade. Viewed on a 10-year basis, the report shows several worrying trends: One is that forced displacement is affecting larger numbers of people globally, with the annual level exceeding 42 million people for each of the last five years. Another is that a person who becomes a refugee is likely to remain as one for many years – often stuck in a camp or living precariously in an urban location. Of the 10.4 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate, almost three quarters (7.1 million) have been in exile for at least five years awaiting a solution. Among industrialised countries, Germany ranks as the largest hosting country with 571,700 refugees. South Africa, meanwhile, was the largest recipient of individual asylum applications (107,000), a status it has held for the past four years. UNHCR's original mandate was to help refugees, but in the six decades since the agency was established in 1950 its work has grown to include helping many of the world's internally displaced people and those who are stateless (those lacking recognised citizenship and the human rights that accompany this). The organisation notes that a person who becomes a refugee is likely to remain one for several years, living in an unstable urban situation or stuck in a camp.