There are a record high 65.6 million forcibly displaced people worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This includes 22.5 million refugees (over half under the age of 18), 55% of which are from Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan.
Globally, there are 10 million stateless people, denied of a nationality and access to basic rights like education, health care, and employment (UNHCR).

In Syria, an estimated 6.1 million people are internally displaced and there are 5.5 million refugees abroad (IRIN).

In the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world, over 655,000 people, predominantly Rohingya, were driven from their homes in Myanmar and nearly a million Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh (IRIN). The UN reports that the month of April saw an additional 4,000 migrants fleeing the Kachin province (in North Myanmar) due to a longstanding conflict between the government and a rebel group (BBC)BBC.

Libya has been described as “Africa’s giant holding cell”, where between 700,000 - 1,000,000 migrants from at least a dozen nations continue to be displaced. (IRIN, MSNBC). Kidnapping, extortion, and rape have become the norm and it is uncertain how plans for improving living conditions and repatriation will unfold.

In Cameroon, political agitation has turned into armed opposition and thousands of refugees are fleeing into Nigeria (IRIN).

Political unrest in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia) has led to Yemen receiving a flood of migrants over the past few years. Upon reaching Yemen, the asylum seekers have been met with violence, either being detained in centers where they have faced brutal torture, rape, and execution or they have been put back on a boat and sent out to sea. (HRW)

In positive news, in November 2016, four years of negotiations between the Government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC- EP) culminated in a final peace accord. This marked an end to five decades of conflict in which sexual violence was widespread and systematic.

Over 13 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to violence and unrest.

In South Sudan, violence between government and opposition forces has been ongoing since 2013 despite multiple peace agreements, displacing 3.6 million people from their homes (IRIN).

The Central African Republic was listed the world's “unhappiest country” in 2017 (World Happiness Report) due to displacement, lack of food, and internal conflict. Aid workers have been targets and agencies have been required to suspend operations (IRIN).

Afghanistan is again in a state of active conflict with a battle for control continuing on multiple fronts. Over 1 million people have been displaced in the last two years while other Afghans are returning after being kicked out of Europe (IRIN). Civilian casualties have been on the rise since 2016, with the Taliban carrying out attacks on civilian centres (HRW).

Syria heads towards seven years of war as violence and suffering continue. Starvation, chemical weapons and denial of aid is occurring and it is estimated that nearly 3 million people are living in ‘besieged’ or “hard to reach” areas; many living in makeshift shelters (HRW).

The ISIS caliphate was destroyed in 2017 but the threat remains of their return, or move underground, or erupting elsewhere as well as ongoing recruitment of young people (NBC News). In Iraq, 2.78 million people remain internally displaced since January 2014 (ReliefWeb).

In the past eight years the Boko Haram rebellion have killed 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million (Aljazeera).

The Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016, charting a new course in the global effort to combat climate change and adapt to its effects (UN).

Climate change and environmental degradation are among the greatest challenges facing humanity. Rising sea levels, increased droughts, floods and other destructive events are expected to increase and will disproportionately impact people living in the poorest countries, who have contributed the least to the problems (WVA). In 2018 Somalia has seen the heaviest rainfall in three decades, which has heightened the ongoing humanitarian crisis (UN).

On average 14 million people from low and lower-middle income countries are displaced each year by sudden-onset extreme weather disasters, compared to 1 million from high income countries (IRIN).

The world’s worst humanitarian crisis is currently in Yemen. In this country of over 29 million, 8.4 million people are on the verge of starvation, 400,000 children have severe acute malnutrition, and over 5,500 civilians have been killed (IRIN).

A complex hunger crisis has left over 25 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. 4.3 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition (WVA).

Our addiction to consumption is a vicious cycle that has a negative impact on our lives, those involved in production, and our environment. In 2017, we reached ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ on August 3rd, “the day whereby humans have used up their allowance of natural resources that Earth can replenish in one year” (Forbes).

There is one ton of plastic on earth for every person on earth and it is choking our oceans and impacting ecosystems (Story of Stuff).

Fast fashion is designed to be addictive and it has damaging social, environmental and health impacts, including huge levels of water consumption, hazardous chemicals, and waste. In Australia, 500,000 tonnes of textiles and leather end up in landfill each year and only 15% of donations to charity are resold; the rest are sold as industrial rags, sent to landfill (which takes hundreds of years to break down), or sent overseas to developing nations (ABC).

An estimated 24.9 million people are in forced labour (ILO), involved in the supply chains of many products we use. There is progress, seen in global initiatives such as the Bangladesh Accord and the Cotton Campaign and as consumers we have power to demand transparency and vote with our purchasing decisions for more ethical production.

“Efforts to control speech and information are accelerating, by both governments and private actors in the form of censorship, restrictions on access, and violent acts directed against those whose views or queries are seen as somehow dangerous or wrong.” A record high 262 journalists were imprisoned in 2017 (Aljazeera).

In Kenya, 2017 elections were marred by violence and serious human rights abuses (HRW).

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, peacekeepers have been deployed amidst protests and violence crackdown
(BBC).

In Iran, there have been growing concerns after 1,000 demonstrators were arrested and there are reports of at least 3 deaths in prison. Violent crackdown on anti-government protests (The Guardian).

Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis - healthcare crisis, child malnutrition, soaring inflation - is projected to worsen and spill into neighbouring countries and is underlined by political turmoil and increasingly authoritarian rule (IRIN).

Our beautiful yet broken world faces numerous and varied other challenges, including racism, persecution of the Church, and inequality for minority groups including Indigenous populations.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Sustainable Development Goals

The Paris Agreement

ReliefWeb: reliable and timely humanitarian information on global crises and disasters.

Human Rights Watch

Open Doors World Watch List

ACCI Missions & Relief Sisterhood Fight Club page.