Pakistan hosts 1.4mln refugees: UN Report

The United Nations has said that currently 60 million people in the world are refugees, asylum seekers or homeless in their own country whereas Pakistan hosts 1.4 million refugees.

This makes Pakistan the second country after Turkey to host the largest number of refugees out of which a large number of them comprises of Afghan nationals, BBC reported on Monday.

According to a report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an increase of 300,000 refugees was seen in 2016 as compared to 2015. This number is much lesser than the year 2014-2015 when at least 5 million people were homeless.

Despite the decrease, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has termed it as a “disappointing failure” of the UN legateship. He said, “It seems the world is no longer capable to maintain peace.”

He said, “The longstanding disputes remain unresolved while new disputes are also up surging. As a result people are becoming homeless.”

He said, “Forced homelessness indicates a never ending war.”

Grandi warned that, “This was burdening the poorest countries of the world because 84 percent of the asylum seekers hail from countries with low economy.”

He stated that, “How can I ask the low resources countries of Africa and Middle East to host the asylum seekers when the rich countries decline to do so?”

He expressed hope that this report will provide an opportunity to the rich countries to rethink to host the refugees.