Myanmar coup displaces thousands as global refugee numbers rise

Number of refugees worldwide increases for a ninth year in a row as people continue to be displaced amid the COVID crisis.

A record 82.4 million people have been displaced around the world in 2020 due to violence and persecution, including an estimated 680,000 in Myanmar following ethnic conflict and the recent military coup, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Indrika Ratwatte, director of the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, said in Bangkok on Friday that an estimated 200,000 people were added to the number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Myanmar in the last four months, since the removal of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February. Most of the recent IDPs are from the states of Kayah and Kayin, where ethnic groups are engaged in armed fighting with the military. Tens of thousands are also displaced in Shan and Kachin states.