Conflicts Push Displacement, Immigration Trajectories as Refugees Continue to Perish En-Route

War and civil conflicts around the world are pushing displacement and migration trends to unprecedented levels, particularly in Asia and Africa.

The number of internally displaced people in Sudan has hit more than 10 million as war drives about a quarter of the population from their homes, the Associated Press reported yesterday citing the U.N. migration agency.

According to the IOM, more than 2 million other people have been driven abroad, mostly to neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.

The UN organization further says that the internally displaced include 2.8 million who fled their homes before the current war began.

The war has wrecked Sudan, killing more than 14,000 people and wounding thousands of others, while pushing its population to the brink of famine.

Conflicts in Africa are taking a heavy toll on migrants fleeing the continent in hopes of better living conditions.

At least 38 African migrants, most of them women, have died after an overloaded boat capsized near the southern province of Shabwa in Yemen, with more than 150 passengers still missing.

The International Organization for Migration said this year that the number of African migrants coming yearly had tripled from roughly 27,000 in 2021 to over 90,000 in 2023, despite the war in Yemen and recent Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, some developed countries have tightened rules to curb the rising trends of migration and the increasing amount of asylum seekers.

Effective on Monday, Japan passed laws making it easier for the fourth largest economy to deport failed asylum seekers as it continues to be criticized for the low number of asylum applications.

Campaigners warn that the new system will put lives at risk as the government can deport asylum seekers rejected three times under its immigration law.