Migration has been a historic, beneficial and important feature of all communities across South Asia. However, when migration is forced and migrants are asset-less, they are often seen as ʻencroachers’ or ʻoutsiders’, then it’s a matter of humanitarian crisis.

The joint WFP-IOM report highlights the close interconnection between hunger, conflict, migration and displacement, which has been further aggravated by COVID-19. The study explores the impact of the pandemic on the livelihoods, food security and protection of migrant workers households dependent on remittances and the forcibly displaced.

Around 14.6 million new internal displacements were recorded across 127 countries and territories between January and June 2020, according to a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Conflict and violence triggered 4.8 million, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, a million more than in the first half of 2019.

By the end of the eighth year of conflict in Syria, economic losses had exceeded an estimated $442 billion.

UNHCR is mandated to provide protection, assistance and solutions for refugees, asylum-seekers, returnees, stateless persons, internally displaced people and others of concern to the Office, of whom there were 86.5 million at the end of 2019.

Eight months from the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on the international community to accelerate support for efforts to mitigate and combat the illness's impact on migrants, displaced persons and returnees worldwide.

The findings reveal elevated mental health problems and infectious diseases in this population.

Climate-induced displacement is an option of last resort. It preys on those who are unable to adapt to the ecological and social consequences of climate change, whether due to lack of resources or other inequities.

Fewer than 10% of countries have laws that help ensure full inclusion in education, according to UNESCO’s 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report: Inclusion and education – All means all.