Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoMedia Stakeouts
Filippo Grandi (UNHCR) on the situation of Refugees, International Humanitarian law and other topics - Security Council Media Stakeout
Remarks by Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees to the media following his annual report to the Security Council. During his briefing to the Security Council, Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, reported that last year, 114 million people were displaced by war, violence and persecution. “Next month we will update this figure. It will be higher,” he said, adding that humanitarians are near a breaking point and that respect for the basic rules of war is almost non-existent. Among the many haunting images from the conflict in Gaza is that of desperate people trapped and often killed inside a war zone. “Their safety should be our — your — paramount concern,” he said, adding that under international law, an occupying Power must not force a civilian population to flee the territory it occupies. Turning to Syria, he highlighted the presence of 5.6 million Syrian refugees and proposals by some European countries to send them back to so-called “safe areas” in the country. The refugees’ voluntary, safe return home is the best solution, and the Government must alleviate the fear many have of being targeted or concern over abysmal living conditions in the country. At the same time, donors must increase support to early recovery activities as per Security Council resolution 2642 (2022). “If we are serious about solving the Syrian refugee problem — and we must be — the only way forward is to overcome political constraints and work on both tracks, with all stakeholders,” he said. In Myanmar, over 3 million people have been displaced by fighting, and humanitarians operate in a high-risk environment. And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, no other place on Earth is as dangerous for women and children as the east of that country. In Ukraine, international humanitarian law gets violated every day and displacement continues to increase. And in Sudan, 9 million people are displaced inside the country or refugees in neighbouring countries. Yet despite the need, the international community continues to neglect the situation with aid activities inside that country funded at only 15 per cent and the refugee operations at 8 per cent. Short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often founded on double standards, pay lip service to compliance with international law, he said, urging the Council to act and not add to the “cacophony of chaos”. It is too late for the tens of thousands already killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and many other places, he said. However, “it is not too late to step up help for the millions who have been forcibly displaced to return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity”
