• Grandi urges the council to focus on unresolved crises and help forcibly displaced people to return home safely and with dignity.
• Grandi also emphasizes the need to save millions of people from war.
• The Security Council is increasingly polarized, with the US, Britain, and France often opposing views of Russia and China.

On Thursday, the UN refugee chief stated that the number of people fleeing their homes due to war, violence, and persecution has reached 114 million and continues to rise because nations have failed to address the causes, and combatants are refusing to comply with international law.

In a hard-hitting speech, Filippo Grandi criticized the UN Security Council, tasked with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to utilize its voice to attempt to resolve conflicts ranging from Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar, and many other places.

He also accused unspecified countries of making “short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often based on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law, but little muscle flexed from the council to uphold it and — with it — peace and security.”

Grandi stated that non-compliance with international humanitarian law signifies that “parties to conflicts — increasingly everywhere, almost all of them — have ceased to respect the laws of war,” although some pretend to do so.

He stated that “the result is an increase in civilian deaths, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, attacks, and destruction of hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure, and the targeting of humanitarian workers.”

Labeling himself a frustrated humanitarian and addressing the 15 council members directly, Grandi stated that instead of using its 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 that tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and other conflicts, stating that it’s too late for them.

“But it is not too late to put your focus and energy on the crises and conflicts that remain unresolved so that they are not allowed to fester and explode again,” Grandi said. “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.”

The refugee chief also stated that it’s not too late to save millions of people from the scourge of war. However, the Security Council experiences increasing polarization, with its five veto-wielding permanent members at odds, as the US, Britain, and France frequently strongly oppose the views of Russia and China.

Regarding the Gaza war, 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 as Russia, a key party to the conflict after Moscow invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, would veto almost any resolution.

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