War and persecution

Regional powers

The wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have become central in the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who both wish to increase their influence in the region. Iran supports the Assad-regime in Syria, while Saudi Arabia supports various actors.

Russia and the US are also important actors in the Middle East. Russia supports the Syrian regime and is an important backer to Iran, a country that since the revolution in 1979 has been decidedly anti-American. Since the 2015 nuclear arms deal between Iran and a group of world powers, Iran has softened its stance towards the US.

Saudi Arabia has for a long time seen the US as an important ally, but has worried that the Americans would scale down their presence in the region and create an opportunity for Iran to increase their influence. When US president Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May 2017, he showed his allegiance clearly, by entering into a weapons trade agreement with Saudi Arabia worth 110 billion dollars, while at the same time declaring Iran a great threat to peace in the Middle East.

Failed ceasefires

As the war in Syria enters its seventh year, it continues to inflict enormous suffering on the local population. By the end of 2016, 6.3 million people were internally displaced within the country, and 13.5 million needed humanitarian aid.

In 2016, the UN and Russia negotiated two ceasefires in Syria: one in February and one in September. Even though these contributed to temporary improvements to the humanitarian situation, the ceasefires did not keep the conflict from reigniting.

In April 2017, the US made its first direct attack on Assad's forces, when American missiles hit a Syrian air base. According to the Americans, the attack was a result of Syrian governmental troops using chemical weapons on their own inhabitants.

Fighting continued throughout spring 2017. The humanitarian consequences have been catastrophic. The warring parties have directed their attacks toward civil targets, besieged cities, and refused civilians access to education and vital humanitarian and medical aid. However, in some areas, agreements have been brokered to facilitate the evacuation of both civilians and soldiers.

Embargoed by their neighbours

In May 2017, more than five million Syrians had been registered as refugees in neighbouring countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Many also resided in North Africa, and about one million Syrians had applied for asylum in Europe. Syria's borders were closed in 2016, which made it more difficult for Syrians to seek asylum. In the spring of 2017, about 330,000 internally displaced people lived in camps and unofficial settlements near the Turkish border in the north of Syria.

Hopes for a speedy political solution to the conflict are slim. Changing fronts, as well as poor standards of living in crowded settlements lacking water and sanitation, repeatedly force people to flee, often on short notice. The situation in Syria has come to a standstill, and the population continues to suffer under the protracted armed conflict. Without a political solution, more lives will be lost and more people will be forced to flee.

The fight against Islamic State group

Parallel to the war between the government and moderate rebel groups in Syria, a broad international coalition continues their fight against IS group, who still controls parts of the country. Also in neighbouring country Iraq, the fight against IS group continues. In 2016, war and extreme violence drove more than 660,000 people in Iraq from their homes. The Iraqi government intensified their efforts to win back areas controlled by the Islamic group, all the while the humanitarian crisis in the country grew.

By the end of 2016, 11 million people needed humanitarian aid in Iraq. Several places, the civilian population were trapped in the crossfire of intense fighting. In May and June 2016, the military offensive against IS group in Fallujah drove more than 85,000 civilians out of the city. In October the same year, the Iraqi government began an offensive on the IS group-controlled city of Mosul. In May 2017, almost half a million people had been forced to flee the city, and the fighting between IS group and Iraqi government troops continues.

According to the UN, at least 6,878 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2016. As the Iraqi government gains control over areas previously held by IS group, more and more Iraqis can return home and in 2016, 1.2 million people returned. In 2017, another two million are expected to do the same.

Yemen

Like in Syria and Iraq, the regional powers are also involved in the war in Yemen.

By March 2017, the conflict in Yemen had lasted for two years, and more than two million people had been forced to flee. A large number of civilians had lost their lives. Extreme poverty, underdevelopment, war atrocities and poor legal rights have exposed the civilian population to immense suffering. The humanitarian needs were already great when Saudia Arabia began bombing the country in 2015, after the Shia Muslim al-Houthi group had taken control over the capital, Sanaa. In the spring of 2017, the economy was on the edge of collapse, and almost 19 million people were in need of humanitarian aid.

The international community has not been able to find a viable political solution to the conflict in Yemen, even though UN-led peace talks in Kuwait between 10 April and 6 August 2016 led to a brief pause in the fighting. Approximately 14 million people no longer have secure access to food, and about two million schoolchildren are not in school. In the first six months of 2017, aerial attacks and fighting on the ground continued throughout the country.

Israel/Palestine

Ever since the war in 1948, and the 1967 Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lasting conflict has forced millions of Palestinians to flee. In June 2017, 50 years have passed since the Six-Day War, which ended with a ceasefire on 10 June 1967. When it ended, Israel had occupied areas thrice the size of their entire country. Over the years, many attempts to negotiate an end to the Israeli occupation have failed, and there are regular resurges in violence. Today, more than five million Palestinians are displaced and more than one million of them live in the Gaza strip.

The military operation in Gaza in July and August 2014 led to enormous destruction. Years of conflict and isolation have made 80 per cent of the population completely dependent on international humanitarian aid. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlement expansion, extensive destruction of Palestinian property and resulting forcible transfer of Palestinians have continued.

Afghanistan and Pakistan 

As most international forces have been pulled out of Afghanistan, the number of displaced people has increased. The conflict intensified in 2016, and in as many as 32 of the 34 provinces in the country, people were forced to flee their homes because of violence and conflict. By the end of 2016, more than 1.5 million people were internally displaced. This trend continued in 2017. Between 1 January and 20 April 2017, another 75,000 Afghans were forced to flee – on average 680 people every day.

Afghanistan continued to be the second largest country of origin for refugees, after Syria. Decades of armed conflict, human rights violations and disasters have resulted in a severe humanitarian catastrophe. Those who were hit the hardest have nothing left, and depend completely on humanitarian aid.

In 2016, more than one million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan and Iran returned to Afghanistan, according to Afghan authorities. Among these, more than 690,000 were unregistered refugees, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Pakistan wants to return all Afghan refugees residing in the country, with the deadline set for the end of 2017.

Among the returnees, many were second generation refugees born and raised in Pakistan. Many faced great economic challenges after their return to Afghanistan. In 2016, a humanitarian crisis developed east in Afghanistan, because the region did not have the capacity to handle all the returning refugees.

South and South East Asia

Most of the conflicts in this part of Asia are more local compared to the Middle East, and they have to a much lesser degree regional political consequences. The countries in South and South East Asia, with the exception of Cambodia, also stand out by not having signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Several times throughout 2016, the eyes of the world were turned to Myanmar, who in April that year inaugurated their first democratically elected government. In the first months of 2016, reports came of new refugees arriving in boats from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Most of these were of the persecuted Muslim minority group who self-identify as Rohingya. Still, fewer refugees arrived than the previous year. In 2015, several countries in South East Asia faced harsh criticism when they refused to accept the refugees. After great international pressure, Indonesia and Malaysia finally granted them temporary residence.

In 2016, violence escalated several places in Myanmar. In the state of Rakhine, the UN talked of possible human rights violations after brutal acts of violence against the Muslim minority group. In the north eastern states of Kachin and Shan, exacerbating violence between the government army and armed groups led to increased attention to "the forgotten conflict" in this part of the country. About 640,000 people from different minority groups are internally displaced in Myanmar, and around 500,000 people are in need of humanitarian aid.

The Philippines

Groups loyal to IS group are active in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines. All these countries saw terrorist attacks on their soil in 2016. The Abu Sayyaf group is the most powerful and is mainly present on smaller islands southeast of Mindanao in the Philippines. In May 2017, president Duterte, elected in 2016, declared a state of emergency on Mindanao after attacks by groups loyal to IS group.

In 2014, the Philippine government and the Mindanao based armed group Moro Islamic Liberation Front reached an agreement which ended a 40-year long conflict. The deal was supposed to ensure a greater degree of autonomy for the Muslim areas on the island, but it is difficult to enforce. The situation is further complicated by the violent acts of local clans with different economic interests fighting for control, as well as a surge in extremist groups.

Just after being elected president, Duterte began a controversial war on the drug trafficking in the country. Up until February 2017, more than 7,000 people have been killed in Duterte's drug war, and the president has faced tough criticism for extensive human rights violations.

Disasters

The number of people internally displaced by violence and conflict has decreased in this part of Asia, but the same cannot be said for displacement caused by disasters. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council's centre for internally displaced people (IDMC), 24.2 million people were displaced by disasters in 2016, and much indicates that this number will increase in the future. A majority of the 24.2 million people were in South and East Asia, including in the pacific region. China, the Philippines and India have the greatest numbers of people who are internally displaced by disasters, but small island communities are also hit hard, especially considering the number of displaced relative to the size of the population on these islands.

Neglected displacement crises

Many displacement crises in Asia get little or no international attention. In Indonesian West Papua, West Papuans have fought for autonomy since Indonesia gained control of the province in 1969. The number of internally displaced is unknown, but close to 10,000 refugees from West Papua now reside across the border in Papua New Guinea. West Papua has for a long time been forgotten by the world, and acquiring information about the situation is difficult because the Indonesian government refuse to grant journalists access to the province.

In India, there is no system to handle and register internally displaced Indians and their situation is not high on the international list of priorities. The largest group of internally displaced is Hindus from the Muslim dominated states of Jammu and Kashmir, near the border to Pakistan. The territorial status of this area has been disputed since the partition of India in 1947.

Conflicts between indigenous groups and new arrivals have for years led to violence and displacement in several of India's north eastern states, such as Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Many of these conflicts have roots from 1947, when India got their independence and several minorities felt marginalised.

In North Korea, the population suffers from lack of food, and the government violates human rights through use of slave workers, torture, violence and persecution. Despite neighbouring country China having signed the UN Refugee Convention, which prohibits forced return of people who risk being persecuted in their homeland, China returns all North Koreans who cross the border. In North Korea, they risk being sentenced to many years in labour camps, or to death penalty. It is uncertain how many North Koreans reside illegally in China, but it could be as many as two hundred thousand.

Fleeing by boat to Australia

Asylum seekers arriving in Australia by sea have for many years been placed in reception centres on Nauru and on the island of Manus in Papua New Guinea. Placing asylum seekers in camps in other countries in the region has been an important part of Australia's restrictive refugee politics. Both Nauru and Papua New Guinea are poor island states who need the money they get for accepting the refugees. The Australian government has declared that none of those placed in these camps will be granted residence in Australia.

In a report published 3 August 2016, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unveiled the inhuman conditions for the close to 1,500 asylum seekers Australia has sent to the two most disputed camps of the pacific islands. The report uncovered violence, child abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm, inhuman treatment and terrible living conditions. On 17 August 2016, Papua New Guinea and the Australian government decided to close down the internment centre for asylum seekers on the island of Manus.