Report: Afghanistan, Iraq Boost World Refugee Total

LONDON — Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, driving up the global number of refugees after several years of decline, the U.N. refugee agency said yesterday.

In 2007, 11.4 million refugees were living outside their countries, compared with 9.9 million in 2006, the UNHCR said in its annual report. A further 26 million were displaced within their own countries, up from 24.2 million the year before.

The group said nearly half the world's refugees are from Afghanistan and Iraq. UNHCR said there are 3 million displaced Afghans, most in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, and 2 million Iraqi refugees, mostly in Syria and Jordan. A further 2.4 million Iraqis are internally displaced, an increase of 600,000 since the start of 2007.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that until 2005, there had been several years of decline as refugees returned to countries including Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Angola.

"Now, unfortunately, with the multiplication of conflicts and the intensification of conflicts, the number is on the rise again," he said.

Mr. Guterres spoke amid the tents, food rations, and jugs of water of a mock refugee camp set up yesterday in London's Trafalgar Square ahead of World Refugee Day on Friday.