UNB, Dhaka :The number of people living in Bangladesh in a ‘refugee-like situation’ now stands at 200,000 who are originating from Myanmar, according to a new UNHCR report released on Friday.The government of Bangladesh, however, estimates the population to be between 300,000 and 500,000, said the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in its Mid-Year Trends 2015 report.The report also mentioned that the number of refugees in Bangladesh is now 32,975 who are assisted by the UNHCR. It also mentioned that there are 11 ‘pending cases’ from the asylum seekers while the total number of ‘population of concern’ is 2,32,986 that includes refugees, asylum-seekers cases and people originating from Myanmar. The report, however, mentioned that all the data are provisional and subject to change.The year – 2015 – is likely to exceed all previous records for global forced displacement with almost a million people having crossed the Mediterranean as refugees and migrants so far this year, and conflicts in Syria and elsewhere continuing to generate staggering levels of human suffering, said the report. The UNHCR report confirmed worldwide rise in forced displacement in the first half of 2015.The report, covering the period from January to end June, and looking at worldwide displacement resulting from conflict and persecution, showed markers firmly in the red in each of the three major categories of displacement-Refugees, asylum-seekers, and people forced to flee inside their own countries.The global refugee total, which a year ago was 19.5 million, had as of mid-2015 passed the 20 million threshold (20.2 million) for the first time since 1992.Asylum applications were meanwhile up 78 percent (993,600) over the same period in 2014. And the numbers of internally displaced people jumped by around 2 million to an estimated 34 million.Taking into account that the report covers only internally displaced people protected by UNHCR (the global total including people both in and outside UNHCR’s care is only available in mid-2016), 2015 is on track to see worldwide forced displacement exceeding 60 million for the first time – 1 in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their home.High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said, “Forced displacement is now profoundly affecting our times. It touches the lives of millions of our fellow human beings – both those forced to flee and those who provide them with shelter and protection. Never has there been a greater need for tolerance, compassion and solidarity with people who have lost everything.”Beyond the headline numbers, the report shows worsening indicators in several key areas. Voluntary return rates – a measure of how many refugees can safely go back home and a barometer of the global state of conflict – are at their lowest levels in over three decades (an estimated 84,000 people compared to 107,000 in the same period a year ago). In effect, if you become a refugee today your chances of going home are lower than at any time in more than 30 years. New refugee numbers are also up sharply: Some 839,000 people in just six months, equivalent to an average rate of almost 4,600 being forced to flee their countries every day. Syria’s war remains the single biggest generator worldwide of both new refugees and continuing mass internal and external displacement.However, the report notes that even with Syria’s war excluded from the measurements, the underlying trend remains one of rising displacement globally. A consequence of more refugees being stuck in exile is that pressures on countries hosting them are growing too – something which unmanaged can increase resentment and abet politicization of refugees.
