GENEVA - Conflict forced nearly 12 million people to flee within their own country last year, the highest level of such internal displacement in 10 years, international monitors said Wednesday. This "is the highest number that we have recorded in a decade," IDMC chief Alexandra Bilak told reporters in Geneva. The newly displaced bring the total number of people living in internal displacement due to conflict close to 40 million worldwide, the study said. The three major Atlantic hurricanes last year, Harvey, Irma and Maria, alone displaced around three million people. While countries maintain statistics on people who remain displaced by conflict, long-term data for people displaced by natural disasters generally does not exist, Bilak said.

Source: Bangkok Post May 15, 2018 22:41 UTC