Protracted Conflicts Boosting World Refugee Totals-UN, AlertNet, 4 October 2010

EXCERPT: "Protracted conflicts around the globe are driving up refugee totals and creating new populations who need to be resettled in other countries, United Nations refugee chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday. And in an address to his UNHCR agency's governing executive committee, he called on the international community to offer broader and better protection for the some 43 million people driven from their homes by local or cross-border warfare. 'We are witnessing the creation of a number of quasi-permanent, global refugee populations,' said the former prime minister of Portugal, citing the experience of Afghanistan and Somalia as examples. The year 2009, which saw a world total of 15 million refugees, was the worst ever in terms of the numbers who returned home voluntarily, mainly because conflicts were becoming more intractable and peace more difficult to achieve. In addition, there are some 27 million people who have been forced to flee their homes but are still living inside their own countries, according to the refugee chief."

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Related resource:
Excom: UN refugee chief says protracted major conflicts creating new "global refugee" populations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 4 October 2010

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