Tens of thousands of Congolese have fled across Lake Albert to neighbouring Uganda in late-2017 and early-2018 because of violence in the north-east province of Ituri between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups.
Two recent studies, undertaken independently from each other, address the statistical debate on whether indeed today’s refugee population is the highest on record since World War Two. Each study, one by UNHCR and one by the World Bank, despite different methodologies and focus, reach the same conclusion: The number of refugees has skyrocketed globally over the last few years and has reached with 3,5 refugees per 1,000 persons the peak levels last seen in the early 1990s.