Displacement

Fig. MA.D.01; Internal displacements worldwide (IOM UN Migration, Global Profiles for Internal Displacements, 2025)

RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION

As part of our investigation into a deeper understanding of displacement, we have researched current global displacement trends to understand how they are already reshaping societies globally, and their key causes. Rising conflicts and climate pressures are driving more people from their homes and widening inequalities.

Displacement of all forms can cause undue stress on existing systems, and needs to be taken into account if we are to respond effectively, and build coordinated, long-term resilience.

How is displacement impacting us now, and what are the implications for the future?

“At the end of 2024, an estimated 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and even its seriously disturbing the public order.”

Forced displacement affects 1 in every 67 people globally

- UN Refugee Agency, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024

Fig. MA.D.02; Displaced Peoples

Displacement Trends

Displacement places unequal pressures on low and middle-income countries, which host the majority of the world’s displaced populations.

'67% of refugees and others in need of international protection live in countries bordering their own, and approximately 73% are hosted by low- and middle-income nations.'

-UN (UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024, 2025)

These countries, often already facing economic strain, must absorb additional pressures on housing, healthcare, education, and employment systems, further stretching limited national resources and deepening existing inequalities.

The adjacent example is the ongoing long-term displacement of Syrians, particularly to the neighbouring Arab nations, who have absorbed huge populations in 2024 alone.

Uneven Pressures_syria host countries.png

Fig. MA.D.07; Displacement of Syrians to neighbouring arab nations

(UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024, 2025)

The adjacent graphs highlight the increasing population of global displacement, their current status, and the root causes.

The key causes of displacement are:

Conflict

Famine

Water scarcity

Climate change

Humanitarian disasters

Political or religious persecution

Economic instability

Limited access to employment

Limited access to healthcare and education

Fig. MA.D.04; Rising Trend of Global Displacement

*data taken from the UNHRC Global Trends 2024

Current Displacement Trends_Vulnerability Trends 1.png

Current Displacement Trends_Vulnerability Trends 2.png

Current Displacement Trends_Vulnerability Trends 3.png

Current Displacement Trends_Vulnerability Trends 4.png

Ukraine: (Reasons - conflict)

In 2024, the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia caused mass displacement, with 3.7 million people displaced internally and 5.1 million fleeing abroad.

Syrian Arab Republic: (Reasons - conflict)

By the end of 2024, 6.1 million Syrians were refugees or asylum seekers, and 7.4 million were displaced internally. Despite Assad’s fall, instability persists.

Lebanon: (Reasons - conflict)

In September 2024, escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israeli forces displaced nearly one million people.

Sudan: (Reasons - conflict)

By the end of 2024, Sudan faced the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 14.3 million people uprooted, 3.5 million more than the previous year, nearly one-third of its population.

Critical Global Displacement_key displacement.png

Fig. MA.D.03; Countries with extreme displacement 2025 (UNHRC Global Trends 2024)

Democratic Republic of Congo: (Reasons - conflict)

Ongoing conflict between the Congolese army and armed groups has caused severe human rights abuses and one of the world’s largest displacement crises, uprooting 7.4 million people by end of 2024.

Myanmar: (Reasons - humanitarian)

By March 2025, Myanmar faced one of the world’s most complex and prolonged humanitarian crises, with 3.6 million displaced internally and 1.5 million forced to flee abroad.

Afghanistan: (Reasons - conflict, humanitarian disaster)

By the end of 2024, Afghan refugee numbers fell by 10% to 5.8 million. Though conflict has eased, poverty, hunger, and poor public services persist, while host nations tighten policies against undocumented Afghans.

Palestine: (Reasons - conflict, humanitarian disaster)

By the end of 2024, the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza had forced mass internal displacement, with much of the population uprooted amid destruction and severe shortages of food, water, and medical aid.

*data taken from the UNHRC Global Trends 2024

Dealing with Displacement

Fig. MA.D.08; 84% of refugees and asylum seekers originate from 15 highly climate-vulnerable countries

(UNHRC, Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, 2024)

Fig. MA.D.11; Global Displacement compared to the ND-GAIN Index

(UNHRC, Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, 2024)

Fig. MA.D.10; Global Displacement Compared to the Current Compound Climate Hazards Risks

(UNHRC, Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, 2024)

Climate and Displacement

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has developed guidance to mitigate future displacement due to climate related events (UNHCR, Strengthening Climate Adaption and Resilience, 2025):

Integrate displacement prevention into national adaptation plans, providing early warning systems, social protection, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
Align humanitarian, development, and climate adaptation frameworks to address displacement risk holistically rather than as emergencies.
Plan inclusively for managed retreat, resilient housing, and livelihood diversification to reduce forced displacement from climate impacts.

Studies have shown that climate change is linked with increases in violence and human rights violations. As global temperatures increase, this leads to other environmental impacts such as food insecurity, water scarcity, increase in infection diseases, and an increase in mental health disorders.

These increasing pressures and their associated consequences are linked with increasing conflict and collective violence (Barry S Levy, Climate Change and Collective Violence, 2018).

“Climate change is increasingly linked to conflict and human displacement. Growing numbers of people fleeing persecution, violence and human rights violations occurring in relation to the adverse effects of climate change and disasters will need international protection.”

UN (UNHRC, Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, 2024)

Fig. MA.D.12; 'Fleeing Destruction Sketch'

Education and Resilience

“Emergencies and disasters, along with their destructive effects, are rising all over the world acquiring knowledge and its uses are regarded as the most effective way to prevent disasters or reduce its effects with the advancement in technology”

-Sogand Torani, (The Importance Of Education On Disasters And Emergencies, 2019)

Disaster education aims to equip individuals and groups with the knowledge needed to take action and reduce their vulnerability to disasters.

Over recent decades, extensive work has shown that trained people are better prepared and respond more effectively when crises occurs (Sogand Torani, The Importance of Education on Disasters and Emergencies, 2019). It is a functional and cost-effective component of risk management, and evidence highlights the importance of ensuring that vulnerable people have opportunities to learn about the risks they face.

While there are many ways to deliver education, no single method is inherently superior, what matters is that programmes are accessible and relevant.

Importance of education within preparedness strategies.

Coordinated Action

'The accelerating climate crisis, worsening healthcare inequalities and rising displacement reveals the urgent need for global systemic collaboration.'

(UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024, 2025)

As famine and water scarcity intensify due to climate change, these interconnected issues will deepen, increasing the risk of resource conflicts and mass migrations.

Overcrowding and fear during periods of distress can heighten divisions and persecution along political, racial and religious lines. Coordinated international action is necessary to address these escalating systemic challenges and build resilience to their wider consequences. 

Peace and Security Index from 2012-2022, (World Economic Forum, The Global Cooperation Barometer 2025, 2025)

Spatial Analysis

Critical Cartography

The aim of critical cartography is to use data to garner an understanding of what happens and why (Jeremy Crampton, John Krygier, An Introduction To Critical Cartography, 2005). Through using a range of cross-disciplinary research methods, the aim is to understand patterns, relationships and trends to help enable evidence-led decisions. 

In a world increasingly shaped by displacement and widening inequality, engaging with architecture and urbanism within the field of human rights is becoming an emerging area of practice. In this context, critical cartography has developed as an important tool for accountability, positioning architecture as a means of exposing structures of harm and supporting justice (Mathew Fuller, Eyal Weizman, Investigative Aesthetics, 2021).

Fig. MA.D.13; Armenian Genocide, 1915, Massacre and Deportation Routes - A visual example of critical cartography

“Maps are active; they actively construct knowledge; they exercise power and they can be a powerful means of promoting social change.” 

(Jeremy Crampton, John Krygier, An Introduction To Critical Cartography, 2005)

Fig. MA.D.15; Data Extracted from - "A Cartography of Genocide", 2023 - Ongoing

Fig. MA.D.17; Data Extracted from - "A Cartography of Genocide", 2023 - Ongoing

Fig. MA.D.16; Data Extracted from - "A Cartography of Genocide", 2023 - Ongoing

Forensic Architecture

Forensic Architecture is a research agency founded in 2010 at Goldsmiths, University of London. Its interdisciplinary team uses architectural reconstruction and open-source investigation to reveal the involvement of governments and corporate actors in human rights violations (Mathew Fuller, Eyal Weizman, Investigative Aesthetics, 2021).

Operating within the open-source revolution, Forensic Architecture makes its researching findings accessible in a digital form. As a result, spatial evidence is made publicly visible and has been presented in courts, truth commissions, international tribunals, and cultural institutions (Mathew Fuller, Eyal Weizman, Investigative Aesthetics, 2021).

“We investigate states and corporate entities - including militaries, police forces, government agencies, and companies - for their violent acts, including repressive policing, civilian deaths in conflict, structurally racist policy-making, violence against migrants and refugees, and historical and contemporary colonial violence, including the destruction of traditional environments and life worlds.”

- Forensic Architecture (Forensic Architecture, What We Do, accessed 2025)

Forensic Architecture has faced criticism regarding the role of aesthetics in its investigations, with critics arguing that the work can blur the line between interpretation and evidence-based analysis, or that public exhibitions may influence perception before legal processes are complete (Art in America, When Does Artistic Research Become Fake News?, accessed 2025). However, Forensic Architecture maintain that transparency and a rigorous methodology underpin its findings, and that visual and spatial techniques complement rather than replace conventional forms of evidence (The Guardian, Our art deals with real injustices, some in Palestine: no wonder we faced opposition, accessed 2025).

In a developing field, Forensic Architecture signals a shift in how architecture's role within global systems is understood. While legitimate concerns remain, when applied ethically this research method offers new possibilities for pursuing justice at a systemic scale.

Ethics & Bias

All research comes with inherent biases, from funding pressures to the researchers own conscious or unconscious biases, this is also true within spatial analysis (Mathew Fuller, Eyal Weizman, Investigative Aesthetics, 2021).

Each researcher brings their own viewpoint, which impacts both the selection of data and the narrative being constructed. The choices made are shaped by personal interpretations, thereby influencing the final output. Not every single piece of information can be added, and everything will be edited (Andrew Gary Darwin, Researcher Positionality, 2020).

Understanding bias is vital as it ties into a researchers ability to make ethical decisions with complex and nuanced data (Francisco M. Olmos-Vega, A Practical Guide To Reflexivity in Qualitative Research, 2022).

“We can never objectively describe reality. It must also be borne in mind that language is a human social construct. Experiences and interpretations of language are individually constructed, and the meaning of words is individually and subjectively constructed.”

- Andrew Gary Darwin (Researcher Positionality, 2020)

Ethics and Bias_Mitigating Researcher Bias.png

Fig. MA.D.14; Ethics & Bias

If bias in research is unavoidable, how do we acknowledge this and try to mitigate the harms caused? 

The current academic practice for qualitative research methodologies is to use reflexivity within their research and to add a statement of personal positionality at the start of a published report (Andrew Gary Darwin, Researcher Positionality, 2020).  

What is reflexivity?

This is practice of critically examining your own biases and their potential to influence your understanding, actions and research methodologies. This is crucial in all research, though especially qualitative to ensure ethical and credible outputs (Francisco M. Olmos-Vega, A Practical Guide To Reflexivity in Qualitative Research, 2022).

Case Study: Cancer Alley

Critical cartographic methods have also been used to understand the links between environmental damage and the long-term impacts of racism on affected communities. 

Since the 1990s The Deep South Center For Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) has been documenting localised data sensors, census data, and other technological tools to track the air quality in Cancer Alley, Louisiana. Cancer Alley got its name due to the impact of the industrial facilities and the corresponding link in cancer due to poor air quality. The health impacts of the air quality include cancer, respiratory issues, miscarriages, high-risk pregnancies and infertility (Human Rights Watch, We Are Dying Here: The Fight For Life in a Louisiana Fossil Fuel Sacrifice Zone, 2024).

The DSCEJ have also been able to evidence the historic impacts of segregation and the ongoing environmental racism (DSCEJ, Living and Dying in Cancer Alley 1990-2023, 2023). Cancer Alley has been identified as one of the global “sacrifice zones” by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment. This means that the area is considered one of the most hazardous and polluted places on earth (UN General Assembly, The Right To A Clean, Healthy, Sustainable Environment, 2022). Despite this, plans are still underway for the building of 29 more petrochemical plants (Human Rights Watch, We Are Dying Here: The Fight For Life in a Louisiana Fossil Fuel Sacrifice Zone, 2024).

Fig. MA.D.18; Spatial Analysis of Cancer Alley

(The Deep South Center For Environmental Justice, accessed 2025)

"One of the most immediate causes for concern is that global humanitarianism is highly biased towards a few situations that interest the most powerful Western politicians... The pattern of humanitarian aid is more closely related to donors’ interests than to the needs of the affected communities."

- Tony Vaux (Tony Vaux, Humanitarian Trends and Dilemas, 2006)