2021 Year in Review: Why worldwide refugee flows surged again despite the pandemic

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Updated 02 January 2022
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2021 Year in Review: Why worldwide refugee flows surged again despite the pandemic

  • In the first 11 months of 2021, some 14,000 migrants had already come to Europe — more than in the whole of 2020
  • The Mediterranean remains the focus of the great exodus of people from Africa and Asia in search of a better life

LONDON: For two years, the global refugee crisis has been overshadowed by the battle against COVID-19. But in 2021 there was a worrying uptick in the number of people fleeing poverty and conflict, and there is every indication that the situation will get even worse in 2022.

Anyone who followed media coverage in November of the unseemly squabbling between Britain and the EU after the tragic deaths of 27 migrants in the English Channel could be forgiven for thinking the economic and social burden of the global refugee crisis in 2021 fell mainly on northern Europe.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. As the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, frequently points out, 85 percent of the world’s 20 million or more refugees are hosted either in neighboring countries or elsewhere in developing regions.

Turkey, for example, has more refugees within its borders than any other country — more than 3.5 million (or 43 for every 1,000 of its own citizens). Jordan has almost 3 million, while tiny Lebanon hosts 1.5 million — more than 13 refugees for every 100 Lebanese.

Germany, home to a million former refugees, has been the most generous of the European states. In the UK, which receives far fewer applications than either Germany or France, but where politicians whip up animosity towards migrants by suggesting, falsely, that the country is being overrun, there is only one tenth of that number. 

Iranians made up the largest proportion of those claiming asylum in the UK in the year ending September 2021.

By the end of November, 23,500 migrants had successfully crossed the Channel over the course of 2021 — double the number that did so in 2020 — while France had prevented 18,000 more from attempting the crossing.

But it is clear that the treacherous Mediterranean Sea remains the focus of the great exodus of people from Africa and the Middle East in search of a better life. Figures from UNHCR show that between January and October 2021, a total of 81,647 people risked it all in a bid to set foot in Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece or Cyprus. 

It goes without saying that the deaths of the 27 people, including three children, when their flimsy rubber craft foundered off the coast of France on Nov. 25, is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of many.




Libyan health workers recover bodies of drowned migrants, who were hoping to travel to Europe by sea, after a shipwreck off the beach in Sabratha, some 120 kilometres west of the Libyan capital Tripoli, on November 25, 2021. (AFP)

But what the coverage has largely overlooked is that during the year up to that date no fewer than 2,543 people had already drowned in the Mediterranean or the eastern Atlantic while seeking refuge in Europe.

The majority, some 1,422 individuals, perished on the infamous central Mediterranean route, bound for Italy or Malta. Overall, the Missing Migrants Project reports, deaths in the Mediterranean “drastically increased in the first nine months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020,” a phenomenon it attributed in part to the relaxation of mobility restrictions imposed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another 959 people lost their lives in 2021 attempting the increasingly popular, but deceptively hazardous, crossing from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands, 100 kilometers offshore at their closest point to Morocco or the Western Sahara. 

One of the most recent lives lost on this route was that of a baby, found dead in one of five inflatable dinghies, carrying nearly 300 people from sub-Saharan Africa, that were intercepted off the islands at the beginning of December.

Yet despite such tragedies, compassion fatigue appears to have set in.




A baby is rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Maydayterraneo on board the Aita Mari rescue boat during the rescue of about 90 migrants in the Mediterranean open sea off the Libyan coast on February 9, 2020. (AFP)

Such catastrophes would once have made front-page news around the world, as in 2015 when the body of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi washed ashore near Bodrum in Turkey.

For a while, the uproar created by the harrowing photographs of the child’s body face-down in the surf a few hundred meters from a popular tourist spot, seemed like it might tip attitudes in favor of the world’s refugees. 

Since then, however, the drownings have continued, and a world now preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic has largely lost interest.

In the five years that followed Kurdi’s death in 2015, no fewer than 17,000 people lost their lives attempting the sea crossing to Europe. Exactly how many of them were children is unclear. But given that one in five migrants are children, it is plausible that Kurdi has been followed to his untimely death by approximately 3,400 of his young peers.

In the flood of statistics that has been generated since the refugee crisis exploded in 2015, it is easy to lose sight of the reality of the myriad human tragedies that lie behind the numbers — the countless families and communities devastated by the loss of mothers, fathers and children. And it seems there is no end in sight.

With a total of 109,726 refugee arrivals in Europe as of the end of November, 2021 has not been a particularly bad year — certainly when compared to 2015 when over a million people sought sanctuary on the northern shores of the Mediterranean.




A European Union flag waves behind barbwires at the new closed center for migrants in the Greek island of Kos on November 27, 2021. (AFP)

Indeed, the numbers have declined year on year since 2015 — dramatically so in 2016, to 380,300, and again in 2017, when “only” 178,700 came to Europe. Over the next three years the numbers dropped steadily, from 141,400 in 2018 to 95,700 in 2020.

But in 2021, for the first time in five years, the downward trend began to reverse. In the 11 months to November, some 14,000 people had already come to Europe — more than in the whole of 2020.

Experts are divided on the cause of the recent flurry. Certainly, the movements of people serve as a barometer of global affairs. That the largest proportion of refugees in 2021 — some 25 percent of the total — came from Tunisia reflects that country’s ongoing socio-economic problems.

But second to Tunisia, and accounting for more than 11 percent of all refugees in 2021, was Bangladesh, which in the past year made a surprise appearance in a top 10 of source nations, a list previously dominated by countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Between January and the end of October this year, 6,455 refugees whose journey began in Bangladesh arrived in Europe. An unknown number died trying. In May 2021, 50 would-be migrants drowned when their boat sank off Tunisia. Rescuers were surprised to find that all 33 of the survivors, found clinging to an oil platform, were from Bangladesh.




Migrants rescued by Tunisia's national guard during an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean by boat, rest at the port of El-Ketef in Ben Guerdane in southern Tunisia near the border with Libya on June 27, 2021. (AFP)

It is, however, unclear whether they were in fact Bangladeshis. One ominous explanation for the sudden appearance of Bangladesh in the statistics may be the plight of the Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar’s Rakhine State, about a million of whom have been driven to seek sanctuary across the border in Bangladesh. 

Life in the overcrowded, under-resourced Bangladeshi refugee camps is becoming intolerable, and there are fears for the wellbeing of large numbers of Rohingya who have recently been resettled on a remote island about 50 kilometers offshore in the Bay of Bengal. 

As UNHCR reported in August, between January 2020 and June 2021, some 3,046 Rohingya, two thirds of whom were women and children, attempted to cross the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to seek refuge in Indonesia or Malaysia, departing either from Rakhine State or from Bangladesh. More than 200 perished in the attempt.

It remains to be seen exactly how the composition of the world’s refugee population will change in 2022. Events in Eritrea and Ethiopia will doubtless contribute to the mix in the coming year, while there is every indication that countries such as Egypt, Iran and Syria, whose citizens together accounted for more than 20 percent of Mediterranean crossings in 2021, will continue to contribute more than their fair share to the global refugee crisis.

“Despite the pandemic, wars and conflict continue to rage across the world, displacing millions and barring many from returning home,” said Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s chief of international protection, at the launch of the Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2022 report.

“With rising humanitarian needs far outpacing solutions, we appeal to countries to make more resettlement places available for the refugees whose lives are in danger or who are otherwise at risk,” Triggs continued.

UNHCR is in the business of resettlement, persuading countries to take a share of the growing army of refugees. It is a task seemingly as hopeless as it is noble.

Last year, of the 20.7 million known refugees in the world, just 35,000 were resettled. The UN refugee agency predicts that an additional 1.47 million refugees will be in need of resettlement in 2022. 


Kremlin says Putin and Trump could meet before end of February, agencies report

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Kremlin says Putin and Trump could meet before end of February, agencies report

  • The talks in Riyadh were the first time US and Russian officials met to discuss ways to halt the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two
  • Kyiv has said it will not accept any deal imposed without its consent
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet as early as this month, although a face-to-face meeting will take time to prepare, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, according to Russian news agencies.
Peskov said the US-Russia talks held on Tuesday in Riyadh were a “very, very important step” toward reaching a settlement on the Ukraine war, nearing its third year.
“In order to carry out, figuratively speaking, resuscitation measures, diplomats will now begin to work in light of the agreement (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov reached yesterday with (US Secretary of State Marco) Rubio,” Peskov was quoted by state media as saying.
“But this is the first step...Naturally, it’s impossible to fix everything in one day or a week. There is a long way to go,” he added.
The talks in Riyadh were the first time US and Russian officials met to discuss ways to halt the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. No Ukrainian or European officials were invited. Kyiv has said it will not accept any deal imposed without its consent.

Pakistan wants to expel all Afghan refugees from the country, says Afghan embassy

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Pakistan wants to expel all Afghan refugees from the country, says Afghan embassy

  • The embassy on Wednesday issued a strongly worded statement about Pakistan’s plans, saying Afghan nationals in the capital, Islamabad
  • The Afghan embassy in Islamabad says Pakistan wants to remove all Afghan refugees from the country and their expulsion is imminent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan wants to remove all Afghan refugees from the country and their expulsion is imminent, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad warned Wednesday.
The embassy issued a strongly worded statement about Pakistan’s plans, saying Afghan nationals in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi have been subjected to arrests, searches, and orders from the police to leave the twin cities and relocate to other parts of Pakistan.
“This process of detaining Afghans, which began without any formal announcement, has not been officially communicated to the Embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad through any formal correspondence,” it added.
Besides hundreds of thousands of those living illegally in Pakistan, there are around 1.45 million Afghan nationals registered with UNHCR as refugees.


Trump bashes Zelensky, ‘confident’ on Ukraine deal

Updated 37 min 34 sec ago
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Trump bashes Zelensky, ‘confident’ on Ukraine deal

  • Zelensky previously criticized the US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair and involve European countries

PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump has effectively blamed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, as French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for another round of talks with EU and non-European partners on Wednesday.
Zelensky previously criticized the US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair and involve European countries.
The Ukrainian leader’s comments appeared to incense Trump, who launched a series of verbal attacks on Zelensky.
“I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday.
“Today I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Trump also suggested he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month in Saudi Arabia as he overhauls Washington’s stance toward Moscow — a shift that has alarmed European leaders.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia and the United States had agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv, with Zelensky postponing his own trip to Saudi Arabia.
France’s Macron announced another meeting in Paris on Ukraine after the US-Russia talks, adding that Trump “can restart a useful dialogue” with Putin.
Trump also increased pressure on Zelensky to hold elections — echoing one of Moscow’s key demands.
Trump wants Ukraine election
Asked whether the United States would support demands that Russia wanted to force Zelensky to hold new elections as part of any deal, Trump began by criticizing what he said were the Ukrainian’s approval ratings.
“They want a seat at the table, but you could say... wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” said Trump.
“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me, from other countries.”
Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained in office as Ukraine is still under martial law.
Trump’s latest remarks are unlikely to allay fears among some European leaders, already worried that Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.
Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point.”
The US-Russia talks — the first high-level official talks between the two countries since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine — drew a fiery response from Kyiv.
“This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.
Trump for his part said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate: “I think I have the power to end this war.”
’Heard each other’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible,” the State Department said.
Washington added that the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to the US-Russia relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.
Riyadh marks a diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden.
Moscow’s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed.”
“We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters.
The veteran diplomat noted that Russia opposed any deployment of NATO-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.
European allies publicly diverged this week over whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine.
Macron, in an interview with French regional newspapers, appeared open to the idea of sending troops to Ukraine but only in the most limited fashion and away from conflict zones.
He said new talks would take place “with several European and non-European states,” after an emergency meeting on Monday in Paris which brought together a small number of key European countries.
Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.
The Kremlin on Tuesday said Ukraine had the right to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.
It also said Putin was “ready” to negotiate with Zelensky “if necessary.”


Bangladesh clashes leave nearly 150 students injured

Updated 19 February 2025
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Bangladesh clashes leave nearly 150 students injured

DHAKA: More than 150 students have been injured in Bangladesh during clashes at a university campus, a sign of serious discord between groups instrumental in fomenting a national revolution last year.
Tuesday afternoon’s clashes began after the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sought to recruit students at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in the country’s southwest.
That sparked a confrontation with campus members of Students Against Discrimination, a protest group that led the uprising that ousted autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina last August.
At least 50 people were taken for treatment after the skirmish, Khulna police officer Kabir Hossain told AFP.
“The situation is now under control, and an extra contingent of police has been deployed,” he added.
Communications student Jahidur Rahman told AFP that those hospitalized had injuries from thrown bricks and “sharp weapons,” and that around 100 others had suffered minor injuries.
Footage of the violence showing rival groups wielding scythes and machetes, along with injured students being carted to hospital for treatment, was widely shared on Facebook.
Both groups blamed the other for starting the violence, with the BNP student wing chief Nasir Uddin Nasir accusing members of Islamist political party Jamaat of agitating the situation to force a confrontation.
Jamaat activists “created this unwarranted clash,” he told AFP.
Local student Obayed Ullah told AFP that the BNP had defied a decision by the campus to remain free of activities by established political parties.
He added that there was “no presence” of Jamaat on campus.
The incident provoked outrage among students elsewhere in the country, with a protest rally held late Tuesday night to condemn the BNP’s youth wing at Dhaka University.
Students Against Discrimination launched protests last year that toppled Bangladesh’s former government and chased ex-leader Hasina into exile after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.
Activists from the BNP joined with student protesters in the final days of Hasina’s tenure, defying a bloody crackdown by security forces that killed hundreds.
The BNP is widely expected to win fresh elections slated to be held by the middle of next year under the supervision of the South Asian country’s current caretaker administration.
Student leaders have meanwhile struggled to parley their success in engineering Hasina’s fall into a durable political force.


Migrant groups say racist attacks increase in German city after deadly Christmas market violence

Updated 19 February 2025
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Migrant groups say racist attacks increase in German city after deadly Christmas market violence

  • Migrants who have settled in the German city of Magdeburg say they have experienced a sharp increase in racism and anti-immigration sentiments following a deadly Christmas market attack last year
  • The violence has ensured that migration remains a key issue as the country heads toward an early election Sunday

MAGDEBURG: When Haben Gebregergish first immigrated to the German city of Magdeburg seven years ago, the Eritrean immigrant was walking to the supermarket with her child when an intoxicated woman approached her on the street.
At the time, Gebregergish did not speak German well enough to comprehend what the woman was saying. But Gebregergish says that when the woman threw a beer bottle at her head, she immediately understood.
It was one of her first encounters with racism, but certainly not the last. In the aftermath of a deadly attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg late last year, Gebregergish and other migrants who have settled in the city say they have experienced a sharp increase in racism and anti-immigration sentiments.
“We are the same as you,” Gebregergish said earlier this month. “We are not different. Just like you, we have feelings. Sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are happy, just like everyone else.”
The Christmas market violence was one of five high-profile attacks committed by immigrants in the past nine months that have made migration a key issue as the country heads toward an early election on Sunday. The suspect, a Saudi doctor, drove into the holiday market teeming with shoppers and left five women and a 9-year-old boy dead and 200 people injured.
The suspect arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency, and authorities say the suspect does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He is being held in custody as authorities investigate him.
Just one day after Dec. 20 violence, there was a large right-wing demonstration in Magdeburg, and verbal and physical attacks on people with a migrant background have increased significantly in the city since then, according to the German-Syrian Cultural Association in Magdeburg.
“The migrant community and the advice centers report that attacks have increased by more than 70 percent here in the city,” said Saeeid Saeeid, who came to Germany from Syria seven years ago and is a member of the association. “Racism already exists here and everywhere. But it has increased enormously since the attack.”
Ketevan Asatiani-Hermann, newly elected chair of the board for the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration in Magdeburg, said victims of racist attacks in the city often do not feel support from politicians or police.
“The hatred has always been there, people just didn’t dare to say it so clearly before,” said Asatiani-Hermann, who came to Magdeburg in 2011 from Georgia.
Officers sometimes target or search the victims first before the perpetrator, she alleged, and they also worry reporting an attack could have a negative impact on their residence status.
The Magdeburg Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Mayor Simone Borris, in a statement, said: “Cohesion and community are fundamental values of a city that are inviolable.” The mayor also referred media to online services for migrants, and said the city’s Cooperation with the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration will be expanded.
Magdeburg is located in the former communist east, an area where the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has its highest support. The party is polling in second place going into the upcoming election with about 20 percent support and is fielding its first candidate to lead the country.
Even though it’s highly unlikely to take a share of power soon, it has become a factor that other politicians can’t ignore and has helped shape Germany’s debate on migration.
The election’s outcome — and a potential gain in influence for AfD — could have a large impact on Magdeburg’s politics and everyday life, Asatiani-Hermann said.
Saeeid said the city’s migrants feel alone, and want to hear directly from their elected officials to address their concerns.
“We will not allow Magdeburg to become a playing field for racism and hatred,” he said.