Number of Refugees in the
World Drops by 3 Million to 17 Million
(Geneva, June 17, 20040 The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCCR), the UN
refugee agency, today announced that the global
number of refugees and persons of concern to
UNHCR dropped dramatically to 17.1 million in
2003 – the lowest in at least a decade – thanks
to concerted efforts to end protracted refugee
situations and find durable solutions.
According to provisional year-end statistics
for 2003 released by UNHCR on Thursday, this is
an 18-percent drop from 2002, when there were
20.8 million people of concern to the agency.
The new figure includes 9.7 million refugees
(down by 10 percent); 1.1 million returned
refugees; 4.2 million internally displaced
persons (IDPs); 233,000 returned IDPs; 995,000
asylum seekers; and 912,000 others, including
stateless people.
High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers attributed the
sharp decline to several factors, including
increased international efforts to find
solutions for millions of uprooted people and
ongoing work by UNHCR and its partners to
resolve "protracted" refugee situations that
have gone on for years or even decades.
He noted that the statistics highlight the
theme of this year's World Refugee Day (June 20)
– "A Place to Call Home" – and offer tangible
evidence of some of the successes of UNHCR and
its partners in 120 countries.
"We have seen the global number of people of
concern to UNHCR drop from 21.8 million when I
first took office at the start of 2001, to 17.1
million at the beginning of this year – an
overall decline of 22 percent," said the High
Commissioner. "The statistics are very
encouraging, especially for the nearly 5 million
people who over the past few years have been
able to either go home or to find a new place to
rebuild their lives. For them, these dry
statistics reflect a special reality – the end
of long years in exile and the start of a new
life with renewed hope for the future."
In particular, noted Lubbers, there has been
an unprecedented level of voluntary repatriation
over the past two years, with some 3.5 million
refugees going home, mostly Afghans from
Pakistan and Iran.
"The phenomenal return of Afghans to their
homeland over the past few years underscores the
benefits of sustained international attention
and support for the work of UNHCR and its
partners in regions of origin," he said.
"The impact is felt as far away as Europe,
where the numbers of Afghan asylum seekers have
plunged," he stressed. "But countries of return
themselves also need continuing international
support and investment throughout the entire
process of repatriation, reintegration,
rehabilitation and reconstruction. Then we know
refugees can go home and stay home, ensuring the
sustainability of their return."
Besides voluntary repatriation, two other
durable solutions preferred by UNHCR are local
integration in the country of asylum and
resettlement to a third country.
The full report from UNHCR's Population
Data Unit, "2003 Global Refugee Trends: Overview
of refugee populations, new arrivals, durable
solutions, asylum seekers and other persons of
concern to UNHCR" is available
here