UN refugee chief says 114 million have fled homes because nations fail to tackle causes of conflict

UNITED NATIONS — The number of people fleeing their homes due to war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million and is rising as countries have failed to address the causes and fighters refuse to comply with international law, the UN refugee chief said on Thursday.

In a sharp speech, Filippo Grandi criticized the UN Security Council, charged with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to use its voice to resolve conflicts from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar and many other places. .

He also accused unnamed countries of making “short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often based on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law but little council muscle to actually enforce it and – thus – peace and security. .”

Grandi said the failure to comply with international humanitarian law means that “the parties to conflicts – increasingly everywhere, almost all of them – have stopped respecting the laws of war,” although some claim they do.

The result is more civilian deaths, sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure are attacked and destroyed, and humanitarian workers become targets, he said.

Grandi called herself a frustrated humanitarian and looked directly at the fifteen council members. Instead of using his voice, “the council’s cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world.”

The High Commissioner for Refugees told the council it is too late for the tens of thousands of people killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other conflicts.

“But it is not too late to focus your attention and energy on the crises and conflicts that remain unresolved, so that they cannot fester and explode again,” Grandi said. “It is not too late to step up assistance to help the millions forcibly displaced return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity.”

It is also not too late to save millions of people from the scourge of war, the refugee chief said.

But the Security Council is increasingly polarized and its five permanent members with veto power are at odds, with the US, Britain and France often strongly opposed to the positions of Russia and China.

On the war in Gaza, the council has not called for a ceasefire due to opposition from the United States, Israel’s closest ally. And on Ukraine, the council has been ineffective because Russia, a major party in the conflict after Moscow invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, would veto virtually any resolution.

Grandi called what has happened in Gaza since Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 and the “horrific” recent events in the southern city of Rafah, after an Israeli airstrike led to a deadly fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians, as an example of ” brutal behavior’. of hostilities intended not only to destroy but also to frighten civilians,” who increasingly have no choice but to flee.

He said Gaza is also “a tragic reminder of what happens when conflict (and by extension a refugee crisis) goes unmanaged for decades.” He also pointed to Syria, where after thirteen years of conflict, 5.6 million Syrian refugees still reside in neighboring countries, including Lebanon and Jordan, which also host Palestinian refugees.

Grandi said violations of international law, including forcing people to flee, are having a devastating effect on people around the world.

In Myanmar, for example, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by fighting since October, bringing the total to more than 3 million, “many of whom are seeking refuge in neighboring countries,” he said.

In Ukraine, international humanitarian law is being violated every day by Russian attacks on the country’s power grids, homes and other civilian infrastructure, he said.

And in Congo, Grandi said, “violence between men with guns is so common that no other place on earth is as dangerous for women and children as the east of that country.”

“But how can members of the United Nations, how can ‘we the peoples’ pay so little attention and take so little action in a place where sex with a child can be bought for less than a cold drink?” asked the refugee chief.

“What a disgraceful stain on humanity!” Grandi said.