ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hosts the highest number of refugees, said a report released by the UN’s refugee agency to commemorate the World Refugee Day on Friday.
Pakistan has been the top host for refugees for 22 of the last 35 years, said the UNHCR Global Trends 2013 which focused on “war’s human cost”.
The year 2013 experienced the fourth-lowest level of refugee returns in 25 years, as at least 98,400 refugees were resettled in 21 countries.
The 40 states hosting the largest number of refugees were all developing countries whose per capita GDP was below $5,000, the report revealed.
Afghanistan was on top among 86 countries from where exodus of refugees remained the largest, said the UNHCR report.
As many as 51.2 million people had been displaced by the end of 2013 which was 6 million more as compared to the previous year. This massive flight was mainly due to the Syrian conflict, said the report.
Renewed conflict and security concerns caused internal displacement of 128,000 persons in Pakistan during 2013.
Displacement of 51.2 million people globally represents the largest number of people in need of help which is a burden on donor countries and on nations on the “frontlines” of refugee crises.
The number of internally displaced people or those forced to flee to other parts of the country touched a record 33.3 million, accounting for the largest increase of any group in the Global Trends report.
Some 1.1 million people submitted papers for asylum in developed countries with Germany receiving the largest number of such applications.
Some 36,600 Pakistanis sought asylum in other countries, as asylum seekers from eight of the 10 top states were facing war, conflict or gross human right violations.
Malaysia ranked sixth among the countries registering asylum applications in 2013.
The US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Malaysia and Turkey received the largest number of applications, said the UNHCR report. INTERNEWS
