Wednesday 20th June marked World Refugee Day for 2018. Recent reports have indicated that there were 68.5-million refugees across the world at the end of 2017, 2.9-million more than at the end of 2016. This is the biggest increase for any given year, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Two thirds of the refugees come from just five countries, namely, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.

According to UNHCR, Africa had 24-million people displaced because of conflict, persecution, human rights abuses and food insecurity at the end of 2017. On the Sunday following World Refugee Day, Pope Francis asked governments to ensure that migration was safe, legal and humane.

Briefing Paper by CPLO