Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

UN: Armed Conflicts Displace 48 Million People across World


Thu 28 Oct 2021 | 10:42 AM
Ahmed Moamar

The United Nations (UN) Commissioner on the Displaced People, Cecilia Haimens Damary, announced today, Thursday, that the number of people displaced by armed conflicts in the world has reached 48 million, noting that it is a new record.

In a speech at the session of the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, she said that the number of people forced to leave their homes due to armed conflict and violence has reached 48 million in the world.

Cecilia Damary warned that the number of displaced people is the largest indicator ever recorded.

She stressed that in the context of the complex nature of armed conflicts and mass violence, it is increasingly difficult to ensure observance of the provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights.

She added that situations of conflict and violence in the world could be exacerbated by natural disasters that lead to population displacement, as well as by the epidemic starting in 2020.

On the other hand, Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization concerned with monitoring and documentation abuses against humans across the world,  has revealed horrific cases of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers at the southern border of the United States by local officials.

In its report, the organization noted that a set of revised documents – which were released to the human rights organization after six years of legal wrangling – reveal more than 160 cases of misconduct and abuse by leading US government agencies, notably Customs and Border Protection and American border patrols.

The documents record events between 2016 and 2021 that include allegations of sexual and verbal abuse, due process violations, harsh detention conditions, denial of medical care, and discriminatory treatment at or near the border.

“The behavior of the border and immigration officers cited in these records is astonishing,” said Clara Long, associate director of Human Rights Watch in the United States of America (USA).

Long added that American officials of the Department of Homeland Security pledged to investigate allegations of those abuses committed by the local officials.