The UN refugee head chastised the Security Council on Thursday, pointing out that 114 million people have left their homes throughout the globe due to conflict and persecution.
“Next month, we will update that figure. It will be higher,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the Security Council, which he lamented for its inaction since he gave his last toll in October.
“Seven months have passed but the situation has not changed — if at all, it has grown worse,” Grandi said, citing increased violations of international law and the pressures on humanitarian workers.
Grandi cited the tens of thousands of dead in Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and “so many other places.”
He attacked the Security Council, claiming that its “cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world.” The Security Council has long been divided by conflicts among its veto-wielding permanent members.
“It’s not too late to try and save countless millions more from the scourge of war,” Grandi continued.
