More than 37 million refugees have been created since 2001 by wars and conflicts created or participated in by the US, according to a new study by a leading US university.

The report by the Costs of War project based at Brown University, based in Rhode Island, looks at eight large wars that have seen US involvement and also a series of smaller conflicts.

Titled ‘Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States’ Post-9/11’, the report says the 37 million number is “a very conservative estimate” and may be as high as 59 million.

The report says the numbers surpass those displaced by any war or disaster since the 20th century, except World War II, and the number of displaced people is almost as large as the population of Canada.

The estimate includes eight million people displaced across international borders as refugees and asylum seekers, and 29 million people displaced internally.

Most of the refugees were displaced in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria.

Also among the report’s findings was that millions more people have been displaced by other post-9/11 conflicts involving US troops in smaller combat operations, including in: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African  Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.

It found 25.3 million people had returned after being displaced, although return does not erase the trauma of displacement or mean that those displaced have returned to their original homes or to a secure life.

“The people behind the numbers can be difficult to see, and numbers cannot communicate how it might feel to lose one’s home, belongings, community, and much more,” the report said.

“Displacement has caused incalculable harm to individuals, families, towns, cities, regions, and entire countries physically, socially, emotionally, and economically,” it said.

“Since President George W. Bush announced a ‘global war on terror’ following Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the US military has engaged in combat around the world. As in past conflicts, the United States’ post-9/11 wars have resulted in mass population displacements,” the report says.

“Wartime displacement (alongside war deaths and injuries) must be central to any analysis of the post-9/11 wars and their short- and long-term consequences,” it says.

“Displacement also must be central to any possible consideration of the future use of military force by the United States or others. Ultimately, displacing 37 million – and perhaps as many as 59 million – raises the question of who bears responsibility for repairing the damage inflicted on those displaced,” the report said.

See the full report here: https://www.rte.ie/documents/news/2020/09/displacement-vine-et-al-costs-of-war-2020-09-08.pdf