REFUGEES: ‘Violence and persecution uprooted record 65.6 million people in 2016, UN agency reports’, UN News Centre, 19 June 2017

Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the UN refugee agency today reported, stressing the 'very high' pace at which conflict and persecution is forcing people to flee their homes. The figure equates to 'one person displaced every three seconds - less than the time it takes to read this sentence.' The report Global Trends, released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), marks a jump of 300,000 since the end of 2015. 'By any measure this is an unacceptable number', said UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi. 'Violence and persecution uprooted record 65.6 million people in 2016, UN agency reports', UN News Centre, 19 June 2017