Global Trends Report: 800,000 new refugees in 2011, highest this
century News Stories, 18 June 2012 A report released today by
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees shows 2011 to have been a
record year for forced displacement across borders, with more
people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000. UNHCR's
"Global Trends 2011" report details for the first time the
extent of forced displacement from a string of major
humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Côte d'Ivoire,
and was quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and
elsewhere. In all, 4.3 million people were newly displaced, with
a full 800,000 of these fleeing their countries and becoming
refugees. "2011 saw suffering on an epic scale. For so many
lives to have been thrown into turmoil over so short a space of
time means enormous personal cost for all who were affected,"
said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. "We
can be grateful only that the international system for
protecting such people held firm for th