Following his address to the Security Council Meeting 9905, the head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi takes questions from the press.

During the Security Council meeting, in what he described as possibly his last address to the Security Council, the head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, warned today that “violence has become the defining currency of our age” — from Sudan to Ukraine, from the Sahel to Myanmar, and beyond — and urged the 15-member organ to fulfil its responsibility for maintaining peace. Responding to comments and questions by Council members, Mr. Grandi said that “I am leading an internal effort, which may conclude with the retrenchment of my organization to up to one third of its capacity.” There will be fewer offices, fewer programmes and fewer operations, he added, noting that UNHCR — founded in 1950 — will “unfortunately” observe its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2025. “It is not a date to celebrate, but one perhaps on which to reflect on the challenges that we all face, and to try and find some inspiration to address them together,” he concluded.

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