GENEVA: The UNHCR Chief has said that record displacements and funding shortfalls have put the agency in a most difficult situation of its 70-year long history, Western media reported on Monday.
In an address to the governing body of the UNHCR, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi called upon the countries to respect the rights of those fleeing conflict zones as protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention of the body.
Refugees have rights as human beings
He said that people forced to flee their homes due to conflict or persecution have rights as human beings and as refugees and displaced.
He noted that unfortunately the world is divided, disintegrated and inward-looking.
Grandi feared the situation in Gaza would bring more instability in the region. He noted the UN body faces a $650 million funding shortfall this year, and the situation in 2024 would be even more worrying.
The UN official went on to say that due to insufficient aid some refugees from Sudan or some others states are forced to opt dangerous journeys to Tunisia and Italy.
He said same situation occurred in 2015, when thousands of Syrian and other refugees fled from their countries to Europe.
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He said fatalities on two of the world’s most dangerous migration routes, the Darien Gap and the Mediterranean Sea crossing to Europe are much higher.
Grandi maintained countries have a right to impose border controls but such decisions ignoring the miseries of refugees are impractical and short-sighted.
He said the organization will not in any case accept externalizing or outsourcing asylum obligations.
Wars in Ukraine and Sudan have added to the displacement of some 110 million people in the world at a time when many governments have tightened border controls.
