" we are trapped in an age of impunity that is placing civilians, as well
as humanitarians, in the crossfire, and driving thousands from their
homes every day.”
GENEVA — The
number of people fleeing violence is the highest recorded since World
War II, according to figures released Wednesday by the United Nations
refugee agency, as old conflicts dragged on and new ones erupted.
The
global population of people displaced by conflict reached 70.8 million
last year, up from a little over 43 million a decade ago, the report said.
Around 80 percent of the world’s refugees have been living in exile for
five years, and around one-fifth of them for 20 years, it noted,
underscoring the intractable nature of the situation.
“We
have become almost unable to make peace,” Filippo Grandi, the United
Nations high commissioner for refugees, told reporters in Geneva.
The report’s total figure is conservative, Mr. Grandi said.
It includes only some of the four million people who have fled the economic meltdown and political turmoil in Venezuela.
Thousands of Venezuelans cross the border each day en route to Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador or Peru, or take to boats for perilous journeys to
Caribbean islands.
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FLIGHT OF A NATION
FLIGHT OF A NATION
