World’s refugees’ situation in 2019

In 2019, state authorities increasingly demanded that refugees return to their countries of origin. However, according to experts, it is still not possible: violence and persecution in the refugees’ homelands are still a severe threat. The Syrians (3.7 million refugees) currently live in camps in Turkey, the Rohingya people, persecuted in Burma, live in camps in Bangladesh, and the Afghans (1.4 million refugees), residing in Pakistan and Europe.

In Libya, the living conditions of asylum seekers staying in government centres are deteriorating – there are allegations of rape, torture, starvation, murder and refusal to relocate. The Libyan coastguard, supported by the European Union, detains refugees who manage to escape from Libya. That is the way the EU is trying to reduce illegal emigration to Italy.

“The number of deaths among migrants in the Western Hemisphere has increased,” noted the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Hundreds of people died while escaping from Venezuela. By mid-December 2019, at least 659 men, women and children were killed travelling across America, compared with 583 people in the same period last year.”