Ukraine refugee crisis just one of many around globe

NEW YORK - The fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II is unfolding in Ukraine. In just two weeks, 2 million people have been displaced so far. But as big as that number is, it is really only a drop in the bucket when you look at the number of people displaced around the world. 

"It's so bad, but I am resilient," Orwa Staif told the AP. 

After 10 years of displacement, you'd have to be.

Staif, 24, is now in Germany after fleeing Ukraine — a country he ended up in after first escaping his native Syria when he was a young teenager.

"Whenever I get used to a place, I get new acquaintance with my friends and then I leave everything and go," Staif said. "It's so hard and so disappointing for me and I hate it."

Sadly, the world's population of refugees grows by the day.

"Nobody wants to leave everything behind," Amnesty International's Daniel Balson said. "[Everything] that they know, that they love, that they care about — and seek an uncertain future in a foreign land,"

And yet, so many are.

More than 82 million people globally were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2020, according to the most recent statistics from UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. A third of those could be defined as refugees — people who've fled war, violence, or persecution and have crossed an international border for safety.

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Syrians know all too well what Ukrainians are going through. In fact, Russia offered military help to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad more than a decade ago, even launching airstrikes in places like Aleppo.

"These actions resulted in a brutal, vicious crackdown by the government in Syria against demonstrators and protesters that further escalated into armed conflict," Balson said.

More refugees come from Syria — almost 7 million — than any other country in the world, according to UNHCR.

About 4 million have fled Venezuela to escape the presidencies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, 2.6 million have gotten out of Afghanistan, and 2.2 million have left South Sudan.

And much closer to the United States — Haiti.

"We've been treated to horrific images of Haitians coming across the border, and being functionally abused by U.S. Border Patrol officials," Balson said. "That country has been through numerous natural disasters as well as political violence in recent years and is not safe for many Haitians, and they deserve protection like anybody else."

If you'd like to help, the simplest and perhaps most effective way is to give money. In addition to Amnesty International, other good frontline humanitarian organizations include Mercy Corps, U.N. Refugee Agency, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

With The Associated Press.