Number of refugees increasing, group says

WASHINGTON – The number of refugees around the world rose by 1 million last year, to 11.5 million, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

People fleeing Sudan’s troubled Darfur region to Chad and Iraqis crossing into Syria contributed to the increase, the private aid group said in its annual survey released today. Last year, the committee started a campaign to end sheltering of refugees in camps for years at a time, a practice it denounced as “warehousing.”

Under a 1951 treaty, refugees have certain rights, including the right to live as normal a life as possible, but governments often lack political will to make that happen, the survey said.