Context  :​ 

• According to the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) 2024 flagship Global Trends Report  a record-breaking 120 million people were living in forcibly displaced status globally between the beginning of 2023 to May 2024.

Important point :​ 

• Global Trends is published annually to count and track the number of refugees, internally displaced persons, persons returned to their country or region of origin, asylum seekers, stateless persons and other persons of concern to UNHCR.

Displacement in 2023 :​ 

• The increase to 117.3 million at the end of 2023 constitutes a rise of 8 per cent or 8.8 million people compared to the end of 2022 and continues a series of year-on-year increases over the last 12 years.
• One in every 69 people, or 1.5 per cent of the entire world’s population, is now forcibly displaced. This is nearly double the 1 in 125 people who were displaced a decade ago.

Internally displaced people : 

• At the end of 2023, 68.3 million people remained internally displaced due to conflict and violence. 
• An estimated 9.1 million people were displaced within Sudan, the largest internally displaced population ever reported. 
• This was followed by Syria (7.2 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.7 million).

Situation of Refugees in India:

• Since its independence, India has accepted various groups of refugees from neighbouring countries, including-
• Partition refugees from Pakistan in 1947.
• Tibetan refugees that arrived in 1959.
• Chakma and Hajong from present day Bangladesh in early 1960s.
• Other Bangladeshi refugees in 1965 and 1971.
• Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from the 1980s.
• Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, 2022

World Refugees day :​ 

• It is an international day set by the United Nations to honour refugees around the world.
• Observed every year on June 20.
• It celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their country to escape conflict or persecution.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): 

• A global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights, and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people.
• Established : 1950
• the headquarters : Geneva , Switzerland
• President : Filippo Grandy
• Founder : United Nation