In an opening address to UNHCR’s Executive Committee, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, called on Member States to provide protection to people fleeing conflict and persecution, regardless of their ethnicity and their nationality.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reports that the number of people forcibly displaced by armed conflict, violence, discrimination, persecution and climatic shocks has reached a record high of 100 million.
High Commissioner Filippo Grandi says the climate emergency is driving more and more displacement, making life harder for those already uprooted. He says the link between climate change and displacement is clear and growing.
“We see it in the Horn of Africa, for example, where people are being forced to flee due to a combination of conflict and drought – over a million people have been displaced in Somalia alone since then. January 2021. About 80% of refugees come from countries that are most affected by the climate emergency,” he said.
Most African refugees flee for their safety to neighboring countries. However, many make the perilous journey to Europe in search of asylum and a better life.
Grandi notes that they and refugees fleeing conflict and persecution from other parts of the world, such as Afghanistan and the Middle East, are too often turned away by European countries.
He says the reception of these refugees stands in stark contrast to European countries’ generous reception of some seven million Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia’s invasion of their country.
“The Ukraine crisis has debunked so many myths that we have heard over the years from some politicians: ‘Europe is full!’ “Public opinion is against welcoming more refugees.” “Relocation is impossible,” he said.
He says efforts to deny asylum seekers access to territory, often through violent pushbacks, must be rejected.
“I also reject what we have heard from some politicians on this continent telling their constituents that Ukrainians are ‘real refugees’ while others – fleeing similar horrors, but from different parts of the world – are not. . There is only one word to define this attitude: racist,” he said.
Grandi adds that member states’ failures to meet their international protection obligations are deeply disturbing and concerning.
