“People escaping violence or persecution must be able to cross borders safely. They must not face discrimination at borders or be unfairly denied refugee status or asylum due to their race, religion, gender, or country of origin.”  – UN Secretary-General António Guterres 

 

World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls on the 20th of June each year and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognise their resilience in rebuilding their lives. 

Together, we can work to end the refugee crisis and find homes for displaced people worldwide. 

Below are 10 shocking facts on the global refugee crisis: 

 

The number of displaced people surpassed 100 million for the first time ever.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) revealed on May 23 that the number of people who have been forcibly displaced worldwide has reached a “staggering” milestone, with 100 million people now displaced globally for the first time on record. 

 

If all forcibly displaced people formed their own country, it would be the 14th largest nation in the world.

With 100 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, that’s equivalent to the 14th most populated country in the world. Countries that have a similar-sized population include Egypt (102 million) and Vietnam (97 million). 

 

Refugees wait an average of 20 years to be resettled and assimilated. 

That’s 20 years of detachment and waiting for your new life to begin. Nobody becomes and remains a refugee because they want to, it’s an identity of survival, of abandoning your past life to avoid death.   

 

85% of refugees are hosted in developing countries.

While wealthy countries have far more resources to host and assist refugees, the vast majority of refugees worldwide are taken in by developing countries. This is often the result of close proximity to crisis zones, meaning refugees end up in these countries after fleeing across the closest borders.  

But the fact that these host countries don’t turn away refugees makes them exceptional compared to developed countries. 

 

Turkey hosts the most refugees globally with 3.7 million, followed by Colombia, Uganda, Pakistan, and Germany.

The bulk of Turkey’s refugee population comes from Syria, which has suffered from more than a decade of civil war. Colombia’s refugees come largely from Venezuela, Uganda’s from South Sudan, Pakistan’s from Afghanistan, and Germany’s from Syria. 

This UN data does not yet take into account the 3.4 million refugees being hosted in Poland.

 

South Africa is host to 266,700 refugees and asylum seekers. 

Approximately 30 per cent are from Somalia, 29 per cent from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 20 per cent from Ethiopia, with the remainder mostly from Zimbabwe and the Republic of the Congo. 

 

Half of the world’s refugees are children. 

Nearly 13 million refugees are under the age of 18. 

 

Nearly half of all refugee children remain out of school. 

Refugee children are more likely to attend primary school, but attendance rates plummet when it comes to secondary school and beyond due to a lack of resources and social pressure to drop out. 

 

The decade-long war in Syria has generated 5.7 million refugees. 

Syrian refugees have fled the country and sought refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and beyond. An additional 6.7 million people have been displaced within Syria, and a total of 13.4 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. 

 

Should you wish to get involved and donate to a worthy cause, then you can get in touch with the following NGO by clicking on the link below:

https://www.scalabrini.org.za/contact/

 

If you would like to read about refugees from an insiders perspective, then please click here: 

Last updated stats done by the UN on the 27th of October 2022. 

 

 

This article serves to describe our lived experience from a longstanding Relocation Destination Service Provider (DSP) in the Relocation Industry, Relocation Africa. Founded in 1993, our footprint is the continent of Africa where they provide Mobility services to the Relocation Industry.
Price is an important factor in making any purchasing decision, but when it comes to our most important assets, our people, quality should play a much larger role in influencing the purchasing decision than for other products or services.
Price is just a number. Quality is an ideal we strive for in our business, and as a business that embraces the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, we see a constant improvement and positive influence in the quality of our service and in our decision making by keeping these SDG’s top of mind.
This focus on quality delivers a direct benefit to our clients and it is why we have received several global awards for the quality of our service, even though our volumes across the entire continent of Africa are a fraction that a competitor will be delivering in one 1st world city – we are extremely proud of these awards, and they reflect our focus on providing high quality service. “Best value for money” is a common phrase used in the service industry. The best definition to capture the message of this article is the United Kingdom’s Department of Finance’s definition; “the most advantageous combination of cost, quality and sustainability to meet customer requirements.” Sustainability is deeply rooted in influencing the choice of quality over price.
Is there a disproportionate focus on price rather than quality in the global relocation industry? Our investigations show that there are certain sectors in our industry where this appears to be the case. The pressures that this new COVID reality we are all trying to navigate puts on all business brings costs front and center for all, however the duty of care for employers hasn’t reduced – if anything it has become greater and bringing this debate to the fore is vital to ensure that all international assignees are receiving the appropriate care from their employers.
The drive towards throwing technology at the problem is vital, both for cost saving as well as planet saving, however it can’t replace the services delivered and the human imperative – it can complement and enhance them – an app can’t drive you to a house or provide emotional support to a concerned spouse … well, not in Africa … yet.

The world has come to a complete standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many industries, companies and businesses have been affected by this, compelling them to restructure the way business is conducted. The global mobility and relocation industries are some of the industries that have been severely impacted by the global pandemic. This in turn has affected the mobility industry, ultimately affecting the relocation industry. Relocation Africa, mobility, relocation, and immigration business has been largely affected by this pandemic.

In efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of their citizens, states have enforced bolder border entry restrictions, travel bans, and quarantine adherences. This has made managing the expatriate and international assignee workforce complex and challenging. Relocation Africa, situated in a continent that has been administered severe travel restrictions from third world countries while undergoing a slow vaccine rollout. Relocation Africa provides a variety of Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration and Expatriate Tax services across the continent of Africa, assisting individuals and corporate clients settle into new environments as efficiently as possible.

The mobility, immigration and relocation industry has had to change the way they conduct business, to resort to flexible and remote ways in engaging their mobile expatriates and international assignees. At Relocation Africa has had to change their normal procedure/ operations of mobility and relocation to accommodate the travel restrictions and their clients.

Relocation Africa has flexed all its programs. Adding new services such as remote packing up for clients, remotely or virtually selling products for countries who are not in the country, conducts virtual and adjusted services such as opening bank accounts to allow expatriates to do this more remotely. Relocation Africa has also extended its online platforms to include more information that is readily available to its clients. Relocation Africa has also had to ensure that all training and expectation management has considered COVID-19 protocols and to ensure each assignee safe and prioritised. We have also attempted to communicate more extensively to all our clients as we cover a large geography with very different regulations, border closing and re-opening, as well as immigration regulations that are adjusting as the pandemic changes.  We would like you to connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter to ensure you are getting our updates on service offerings as well as travel updates and border regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

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We are excited to announce that we have recruited and trained new consultants in Ivory Coast, Botswana and Mauritius. We have also added the locations: Democratic Republic of Congo and Djibouti to our destination.

Relocation Africa is alive and growing! For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.