>> this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. an image of a bullet used to kill a journalist last month, deployed from an m4 rifle. the journalist was shot by israeli forces while on assignment in may. mike pence's life was in danger when writers attacked capitol hill last year, according to the u.s. congressional committee investigating the insurrection that took place after donald

trump refused to accept defeat in the 2020 election. former aides depends testified on thursday, saying he was under intense pressure from trump not to certify joe biden's win. >> he wanted pence to either declare trump the winner or send the boats -- send the votes back to be counted again. mike pence said no. he resisted the pressure. he he knew it was illegal. he knew it was wrong. we are fortunate that pence was courageous on january 6 when our democracy came dangerously close to attack. >> police in brazil are working to identify human remains found

in the amazon, where a journalist went missing. a costs -- a suspect in custody has admitted to killing and burying them. tunisia's main labor union has gone on strike, demanding an increase in salaries amid economic reforms. 3 million people are part of the labor union and they held a rally in the capital. last week the government announced plans to reduce some subsidies. those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera after inside story. >> qatar will hosthe world

cup. many fans were already counting down to the big kickoff next november. as this tournament unfolds, it will play a key role for organizers getting ready to host the sporting event next year and for that qatar national team as they get used to playing in front of a home crowd. they hope to convince fans on themselves that they are ready to take on the world. mohammed: 100 million people around the world are now displaced. war, violence, persecution, and rights abuses are some of the main causes, but can this rising trend be reversed, and if so, how? this is "inside story." ♪

hello and welcome to the program. i'm mohammed jamjoom. more people than ever before are being forcibly displaced around the world and according to the u.n. refugee agency either we deal with the causes, conflict, climate, change and persecution, to name just a few, or we begin accepting a world in which millions are displaced everywhere. right now that number is more than one million. the war in ukraine is worsening , the situation displacing more than 100 million people. we'll bring in our guests in a moment first this report from charles step form in keith.

charles: julia and ludmila escaped the russian bombardment of mariupol in march. over the next few days they , risked their lives three times driving back into the city braving bullets shells and air strikes in a desperate attempt to find the father of their family, 61-year-old alexander. as fighting intensified, they fled to a basement in city center. the day they escaped, the shelling was intense and alexander never made it from the basement to the waiting car. >> we were sure he knew we would come back for him, she said, and he would wait for us in the basement. a few days later, they returned to where they had last seen him. the buildings were burned and destroyed and there was no one there.

their story is not uncommon. the united nations estimates that russia's invasion has forced more than 12 million people to flee their homes. the ukrainian government says thousands of them are searching for friends and loved ones missing, feared dead. anna chazovnikov is a psychologist volunteering at a center helping some of the tens of thousands of people from mariupol who fled to the ukrainian control beside. >> today i had a lady whose husband was killed in front of her and she asked why did i survive? like so many, she is deeply disturbed, constantly breaking down and refusing to accept what has happened. charles: families who come to this center receive food parcels once every two weeks, children play while their parents register and tell their stories to volunteers. andre used to work at the azov style plant as a lathe operator . he says he left many friends behind.

>> i think they are more sympathetic to the occupiers . they call and ask when i am coming back. but i will never return with russians in control. charles: anastasia was a social worker in mariupol before the war, she struggles to hold back her tears. >> we all lost friends. they are gone forever. in my case, it would be death or captivity because i refused to work under the occupiers. i do not know if i will ever see my city again. charles the ukrainian government : accuses russia of forcing tens of thousands of people from mariupol into russia, an accusation russia denies. yulia and ludmilla say their only hope is that alexander is still alive. mohammed: every year of the past decade has seen a rising number of people forced to flee their homes. this year is no different. above 100 million for the first time.

the u.n. refugee agency says the scale and speed of this crisis is outpacing solutions. the biggest factor right now is the war in ukraine, which has triggered one of the largest mass displacements since the second world war, but there is some good news. five .7 one million people returned to their country of origin last year. let's bring in our guests. in geneva, a spokesperson for the u.n. refugee agency. in oxford, a professor of international migration at the university of birmingham. and in new zealand, and author and former refugee. welcome and thank you for joining us. behares, let me start with you today. when we talk about the displacement crisis in the world today we must talk about something that's been in the news a lot, especially this week, it's this very

controversial plan in the uk . there's this agreement between the british government and rwanda in which some refugees and asylum seekers would be sent to rwanda to have their asylum claims process to their. many who oppose this plan say that the plan mirrors australia's use of offshore detention centers, that was a plan that saw people being sent to detention centers on the pacific islands of nauru and manus, you yourself were held at an offshore detention center on manus island for six years, so how concerned are you about the kind of precedent this uk rwanda agreement could set? >> thank you for having me. i think it's horrific news and for many years, advocates and australia were warning that was -- warning that what was happening in australia and what

the australian government was doing one day would be a model for other countries. five years ago politicians came from denmark and they visited naru and when they went back to europe they exactly established the same system in denmark. but in the u.k., it's a large version of australia and is exactly the same. and let me say the former australian prime minister tony abbott was exactly the same person who introduced this policy to the british politicians and now they are doing it. the policy established on secrecy, on uncertainty, and also on based of colonialism

mentality. so what they are doing is exactly the same as what australia has done and unfortunately, i feel very negative about this and i think they are going to do it. now they have stopped it but i don't think the courts or human rights defenders or civil society in the u.k. will successfully stop them from doing it, but i'm really worried about it because i went through the same system and i know this system is cruel and inhumane and the impact on political culture can undermine the principles such as human rights and democratic values.

so i'm following that news and hopefully they don't do it but i think they will because this kind of policy allows the popular politicians to manipulate the public and get power. so we already saw that in australia and know the outcome. we know how many people are under the system meant how it is correct. mohammed: shabia, you and i have spoken many times in the past about the numerous displacement crises in different parts of the world but we are at a moment now where there are a hundred million people worldwide that have been forced to flee their homes in the past year. the highest number of displaced people reported since world war ii. it is staggering by any measure.

i wonder if you could speak about the enormity of the number and what it means. >> indeed. this is a very stark figure. it is sobering and alarming. each year we've seen a worldwide forced displacement increase and we see the records increasing year on year. it is a worrisome picture but there is a direct link between worldwide forced displacement and conflicts and persecution and humanitarian emergencies that continued to drive people from their homes. so what we're seeing is a picture around the world of people having to flee in in the face of conflict and insecurity . so we're advocating for solutions, otherwise these numbers will continue, but more importantly than that, behind

these numbers these are human beings. these are people with wives ahead of them and it's a really tough ordeal to be living in this state of displacement. when we look at statistics, we have to bear in mind that the majority of the people, last year 80 9.3 one million people were displaced. there is an equity terms of responsibility sharing for the world's displaced people. they are being hosted in low income and middle income countries. mohammed: nando you heard shabia speak there about the link

between forcible displacement force displacement and conflict and unhcr is saying that the trend and the rising numbers of those being displaced can only be reversed by a new concerted push towards peacemaking but given the state of the world today and given how many conflicts there are in the world right now does it seem likely to you that we will see that push, that we would see that concerted effort by the international community? >> i don't think so. what we see is a sustained attack on the refugee protection internationally. the reason the plan is really concerning is that in the past it can become a template for other countries and what it does basically is saying the rich western countries can simply offshore the responsibility vis-à-vis refugees. in this case, the novelty of it is that basically the u.k. is transferring asylum seekers for

being assessed by a third country and they have no right -- they have no right to move to the u.k.. so we see a sustained attack on the system that was built in geneva convention years ago. mohammed: in the last few months a lot of sympathy has been shown to ukrainian refugees, and they should be given safe harbor. but the fact that there are 70 refugee crises going on around the world that do not get the same amount of help and attention, how does it make you feel and how does it make the refugees you speak with feel? >> i'm in touch with many refugees in indonesia. they've been waiting for almost a decade and hundreds of

thousands of refugees are leaving turkey so i'm in touch with them. but some countries welcome refugees from ukraine, which is great and we appreciate that, but unfortunately there is discrimination here. and according to international law, you're not allowed to do that. refugees are refugees. it doesn't matter where they come from and it doesn't matter what their background or skills are. that's why at the refugees i'm in touch with, they are always worried and sometimes get angry about it. even in germany, we hear two

months ago that they kicked out the afghan refugees in order to accommodate refugees from auckland. and out in the ut -- in the u.k. receipt they treat ukraine refugees differently and they are banishing other refugees to rwanda. i do not know if it is racism or not but there is obviously discrimination, and that is not acceptable according to law. we need to ask why we help the refugees and let them stay and process them and help them start a new life. because of principles. because we believe in morality

and humanity. so when we understand it in that way, i do not understand why they treat refugees differently. it's not acceptable and it makes refugees feel bad about it. there were thousands and thousands of refugees who have been waiting to settle in a third country and this is obviously not acceptable. mohammed: i want to talk about some remarks made by philippe a grande day. he said he would like all refugees to be afforded the generosity that ukrainian refugees have been granted.

but that is not what we are seeing. other refugees into other parts of the world are being largely ignored. >> we have to recognize the response to the ukraine refugee crisis. there was a tremendous outpouring of solidarity and support so we commend the steps and commitments made to respond to that crisis. it shows that when you have resolved and the political will, it is possible to respond to the situations of mass displacement. that's what we want to see for all the crises. they are also deserving of attention on support and they are neglected. so we are asking for an extension of compassion and solidarity. the right to seek asylum is a fundamental human right and a legal obligation.

so it's important that all refugees no matter where they come from can receive the rights and entitlements they deserve. we also have to look at the global picture. neighboring countries are usually the first responders in terms of stepping up and dealing with refugees. at the end of last year the largest post refugee countries were columbia uganda, pakistan. so we recognize the solidarity displayed by those countries. mohammed: a quick follow-up question for you. are there glimmers of hope and examples of countries working

together to find solutions to help the displaced? >> there are. if we look at the response of neighboring host countries, they have kept their borders open. during the pandemic they were even still receiving refugees. the reason why the displacement number goes up is because countries continue to receive them. people are able to benefit from their rights and residency and services. you have many examples of solidarity and compassion and we have to remember there are still 5.7 one million displaced people who returned to their country of

origin in 2021 voluntarily. mohammed: i want to ask, from your perspective, how disproportionately are women and children impacted by the rising number of conflicts in the world these past decade? how much more vulnerable have they become when it comes to forcible displacement? >> in terms of the ukrainian response compared to others, as mentioned, traditionally the crisis is dealt with in the region. we have seen this for decades. look at the response to the war in yugoslavia.

it was mostly eu member states that provided support. so it's true that not all refugees are treated the same but it is also true that it is the neighboring countries that are often the ones that take the bulk of the responsibility and that is what we are seeing with the ukrainian crisis. quoting -- closing borders only creates tension and instability. remember what happened in the border of hungary and construction of the walls. so in many ways allowing the flow of people out releases tension normally produced. the main issue to consider is the pressure on local communities. they are receiving hundreds of thousands of people. it's not sustainable. what will happen at the end of

the temporary protection is an issue we have to pay attention to. in terms of vulnerable groups, as we see with ukraine, especially in the first part of the conflict, mostly women and children and elder people who left ukraine. we see often that the experiences of violence and exploitation cross the border and the way smugglers operate, women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. mohammed: i have heard you speak in the past powerfully about the kind of trauma refugees and the displaced deal with, especially when it comes to those who have

escaped violence, they've made it to a new country, but then they just have to wait, they have to wait to find out if they can get asylum or when they'll be able to set up a new life . could you could you tell our audience a little bit about that kind of trauma? >> i wrote about it in some articles, that particularly australia has tortured refugees through time. keeping refugees in limbo. keep them waiting for many years to get resettlement in a third country. it is torture because living in limbo, living in an undecided situation impacts refugees.

they cannot really think about their future. they've lost many things. they left their country and for example the afghan refugees they have family back home and they want to support them but they can't. keeping people just waiting creates problems and refugees feel tortured. but many refugees left their countries because of persecution and discrimination. when they come to the west, they go through a difficult process again and have to endure a kind of trauma again.

women especially, some of them leave their countries because of sexual violence but they find themselves in a camp or place like that and they get raped again were sexually assaulted. -- or sexually assaulted. so it's difficult to describe but keeping refugees in a situation for many years is damaging mentally for refugees. mohammed: we have run out of time so we have to leave the conversation. thank you to all of our guests. and thank you for watching.

you can see the program again anytime by visiting our website aljazeera.com and for further discussion go to our facebook page. that's facebook.com/ajinsidestory. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle is @ajinsidestory. for me, mohammed jamjoom, and the whole team here in doha, bye for now.

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