A/HRC/32/35
prevention, preparedness, risk assessments, better data collection and integrated
humanitarian and development action.
27.
UNHCR confirmed the negative trends, stating that wars, conflict and persecution
have forced more people to flee their homes than at any other time since records began. 7
Worldwide, displacement was at the highest level ever recorded, with the number of people
forcibly displaced at the end of 2014 reaching 59.5 million, compared with 51.2 million a
year earlier and 37.5 million a decade ago. Globally, one in every 122 humans is a refugee,
internally displaced person or seeking asylum. Every day in 2014, on average 42,500
people became refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced persons, a four-fold
increase in just four years.
28.
The current unprecedented level of displacement covers both new and old situations,
which must not be neglected. The overall magnitude of the problem also points to the
continuing phenomenon of protracted internal displacement, which has not been solved and
for which durable solutions and regional and international cooperation are necessary, for
example, in Azerbaijan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia. This is
also the case in Serbia and Kosovo.2
29.
Internal displacement due to natural disaster has shown upward trends, while
extreme weather events associated with the adverse effects of climate change are more
frequent and cause higher levels of displacement. The Internal Displacement Monitoring
Centre estimates that more than 19.3 million people were forced to flee their homes by
disasters in 100 countries in 2014.8 Hundreds of thousands remain displaced following
disasters in previous years. On average, 26.4 million people have been displaced by
disasters every year since 2008, equivalent to one person every second.
30.
In 2015, in its resolution 70/165, the General Assembly encouraged the Special
Rapporteur to continue to explore the human rights implications and dimensions of
disaster-induced internal displacement, with a view to supporting Member States in their
efforts to build local resilience and capacity to prevent displacement or to provide
assistance and protection to those forced to flee. The Special Rapporteur calls for greater
synergy in protection and assistance to disaster-related internally displaced persons and
disaster-related cross-border displaced persons, on the basis of the protection agenda that
was elaborated in 2015 by the Nansen Initiative and endorsed by over 100 countries.9
1.
Achieving durable solutions for internally displaced persons
31.
In 2013, following consultations with stakeholders, the Special Rapporteur focused
particularly on achieving durable solutions for internally displaced persons and promoting
the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally
Displaced Persons.10 Globally, too many internally displaced persons continue to live in
protracted displacement situations in which progress towards durable solutions has stalled.
There remains a generally weak understanding of durable solutions and neglect in
implementing them. The closure of camps, cash payments or return without required
7
8
9
10
8
See UNHCR, Global Trends 2014: World at War (Geneva, 2015). Available from
http://unhcr.org/556725e69.html.
See Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Global Estimates 2015: People displaced by disasters,
p. 8 (Geneva, 2015). Available from www.internal-displacement.org/assets/library/Media/201507globalEstimates-2015/20150713-global-estimates-2015-en-v1.pdf.
See www.nanseninitiative.org/.
See Brookings Institution – University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Inter-Agency
Standing Committee Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (Washington,
D.C., 2010). Available from www.unhcr.org/50f94cd49.pdf.
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