The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, has reported that the number of refugees in the world has reached 110 million peoplea record level driven by the conflicts in Sudan, Syria, UkraineEthiopia or Burma.

Furthermore, he has warned about the start of the war between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel as a result of an offensive from the Gaza Strip.

“UNHCR does not have a mandate to address the immediate and tragic humanitarian consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is present and active in the region and is present and active there where war forces people to flee“Grandi stressed in a statement.

In that sense, he explained that conflicts have been the main causes of the forced displacement of millions of people and that, as they grow, violations against International Humanitarian Law also increase and that civilians, being the most affected, embark on “arduous journeys” in which “their suffering continues” .

Grandi has stated that the resources available to host governments and humanitarian organizations are not enough to stabilize populations despite doing everything possible about it.

Lack of financing

The High Commissioner has stated that UNHCR has a deficit of 650 million dollars (about 615 million euros), which prevents the organization from providing humanitarian needs to refugees.

Grandi has assured that the prospects for next year are “even more disturbing and dangerously low“I have never been so worried in my almost eight years in this position,” he said.

Furthermore, he has warned that the consequences of these financial deficits “are serious and affect refugees and displaced people”, in addition to weighing on the host countries (which continue to be the main donors of refugees).

“The lack of funds has already caused Worrying reductions in food aid in Bangladesh and Jordan, as well as in several African countries,” he explained, revealing that this has led to an increase in return movements in certain cases and negative survival mechanisms in others.

However, he has made it clear that, despite this situation, UNHCR maintains its commitment to promoting solutions to displacement. Since the beginning of the year, UNHCR has responded to 44 new situations emergency in thirty countries. The latest emergency led to the arrival of 100,000 refugees to Armenia from Karabakh just a few days ago.