Over 1.4Mln Refugees To Require Resettlement By 2020 - UN Refugee Agency

More than 1.4 million refugees who reside in over 60 countries worldwide will require resettlement by 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release on Monday

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2019) More than 1.4 million refugees who reside in over 60 countries worldwide will require resettlement by 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release on Monday.

"According to latest estimates released today at an annual resettlement forum, hosted by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, more than 1.44 million refugees currently residing in over 60 refugee-hosting countries will be in need of resettlement in 2020," the release said.

The release said 80 percent of refugees are hosted in developing regions, such as East and Horn of Africa, Turkey, the middle East and North Africa. These regions experience their own development and economic issues and require international assistance.

To aid hosting countries, the UNHCR, on its part, launched a Three-year Strategy (2019-2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways intending to resettle three million refugees by the end of 2028 by moving them to third countries, the release said.

The new plan, which is called for in the Global Compact of Refugees, aims to expand the pool of resettlement places which will relocate one million refugees to 50 countries and to increase the number of complementary pathways for admissions which will help to move two million people.

Earlier on Monday, a two-day Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR), co-hosted by the government of the United Kingdom and the British Refugee Council, has kicked off in Geneva.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, delivering his remarks at the conference, called on the international community to step up efforts to resettle more refugees.

"States can come together to collectively respond to refugee crises, and help millions to reach safety, find homes and build futures in new communities," Grandi said.

The number of people displaced in 2018 worldwide exceeded 70 million, of which 25.9 million are refugees, according to the UNHCR.

The UNHCR announced on June 24, it will launch its first Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on December 17-18 in an effort to improve the international response regarding refugees.