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on December 4, 2000, the United Nations declared December 18 as International Migrants Day. The U.N. did so to recognize the increasing number of migrants around the world and to reaffirm member nations’ commitments to migrants’ freedoms and human rights.
Nearly two decades later, compounding issues around the world have led to over 65 million people displaced abroad or within their own borders—the most ever recorded by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNHCR). In recognition of the complexity of this issue and the millions of people displaced around the world, we want to highlight what Brookings scholars are saying about the greatest challenges and successes in global migration today.
The state of refugees, migrants, and internally displaced people by the numbers
In an episode of the Brookings Cafeteria podcast earlier this year, Jessica Brandt, fellow in Institutional Initiatives, provided context on the scale of the global refugee crisis and identified steps that the United States and international community should take in order to provide relief. Citing data from a UNHCR report, Brandt pointed out that on average, 24 people per minute, per day worldwide were forced to flee their home in 2015. About 1 out of every 113 people worldwide were either asylum seekers, refugees, or internally displaced, and about half of the world’s refugee population was under the age of 18.
Two-thirds of the world’s displaced population actually remain within the borders of their own country, as Elizabeth Ferris, nonresident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program, points out. In June, Ferris unpacked the numbers of global refugees, and noted that the internationally displaced population—which accounts for most of the growth in overall global displacement—has grown from 25 million in 1992 to 40.3 million in 2016 (although at least some of that increase is likely due to greater awareness of internal displacement and better tracking).
The Syrian civil war
After almost 7 years of civil war, half of Syria’s population has been displaced, creating over 6 million refugees, about a third of the world’s total refugee population. Turkey hosts half of these refugees, with large numbers in Lebanon and Jordan, too, the “frontline” states on Syria’s border. Lebanon hosts more than 1 million refugees, which amounts to more than one in five people in the country. In Jordan, that number is one in ten at least.
According to Brandt and co-author Robert McKenzie, large flows of displaced people into these neighboring states causes real strains. They note “the sheer scale of the refugee crisis poses unparalleled humanitarian, economic, and political challenges in an already fragile region.”
Many of these refugees have limited access to labor market opportunities, education, and other public goods and, according to Brandt and McKenzie, are often forced to work in the “grey economy” where they are vulnerable to exploitation. They write that lack of resources available for refugees, “compounded by a myriad of legal, bureaucratic, and administrative challenges,” makes it difficult for international NGOs to provide humanitarian assistance on-the-ground.
Just last week, Brooking hosted an event with a young Syrian refugee, Saria Samakie, who candidly discussed his story and experience as a refugee in America. In the short clip below, Samakie answers a question from the audience on when and under what conditions he believes people will begin to return to Syria.
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