Number of people forcibly displaced hits new high of 68.5 mln in 2017: UN

Refugees head for their homes at a Syrian refugee camp in Bar Elias, Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, on June 19, 2018, ahead of World Refugee Day. After years of war in Syria, Syrian refugees continued their lives in Lebanon. The number of people forcibly displaced due to wars, other violence, and persecution worldwide reached a new high in 2017 to 68.5 million, 2.9 million more than the year before, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)