According to the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), there were 50.8 million internally displaced people last year. Due to the novel coronavirus, this number could be even higher since the pandemic broke out.

Speaking to Vatican News, IDMC director Alexandra Bilak said that “the global coronavirus pandemic will make them more vulnerable still and compromise their already precarious living conditions by further limiting their access to essential services and humanitarian aid”.

In Syria alone, 1,847,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to the ongoing war, which ranks the country in first place on the list of internal displacements because of conflict.

According to the report, climate disasters – such as the Australian bush fires – were the largest source of displacement worldwide, causing almost 25 million people to flee their homes last year, Vatican News wrote. 

In Aleppo, Syria, COVID-19 adds to ongoing suffering of Christians, especially the poor

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