The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today announced that – for the first time – Syrians are now the largest refugee population under its mandate. This finding is part of UNHCR’s Mid-Year Trends 2014 report.This report shows that 5.5 million people – due to war and conflict – became newly displaced during the first six months of 2014. Taking into account several factors, UNHCR says the number of people it helps stood at 46.3 million as of mid-2014. This number is 3.4 million more than at the end of 2013 and is a record high.

Judith Twala, MA, is a psychotherapist/trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture in Dadaab, Kenya. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp in the northeast region of Kenya, close to the Somali border. Most refugees in this complex of camps are from Somalia with others from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries.

On June 20 – World Refugee Day – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released its annual Global Trends report on the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people worldwide due to persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations.

Last November, the United Nations refugee agency and the governments of Somalia and Kenya signed an agreement to support the voluntary return of Somali refugees. According to the UN, Kenya hosts 470,000 Somali refugees, the majority of whom live in the Dadaab refugee complex.