GENEVA: The head of the UN refugee agency warned on Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures were not the solution, calling them ineffective and sometimes unlawful.
Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Filippo Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are now displaced around the world by conflicts, persecution, poverty and climate change.
“You might then ask: what can be done? For a start, do not focus only on your borders,” he said, urging leaders instead to look at the reasons people are fleeing their homes.
“We must seek to address the root causes of displacement, and work toward solutions,” he said. “I beg you all that we continue to work — together and with humility — to seize every opportunity to find solutions for refugees.”
Without naming countries, Grandi said initiatives to outsource, externalize or even suspend asylum schemes were in breach of international law, and he offered countries help in finding fair, fast and lawful asylum schemes.
Western governments are under growing domestic pressure to get tougher on asylum seekers and Grandi has previously criticized a plan by the former British government to transfer them to Rwanda.
In the same speech he warned that in Lebanon, where more than one million people have fled their homes due to a growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the situation could worsen further.
“Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide to move on to other countries.”
He called for a drastic increase in support for refugees in Sudan’s civil war, saying lack of resources was already driving them across the Mediterranean Sea and even across the Channel to Britain.
“In this lethal equation, something has got to give. Otherwise, nobody should be surprised if displacement keeps growing, in numbers but also in geographic spread,” he said.
The UNHCR response to the crisis that aims to help a portion of the more than 11 million people displaced inside Sudan or in neighboring countries is less than 1/3 funded, Grandi said.
The number of displaced people around the world has more than doubled in the past decade.
Grandi, set to serve as high commissioner until Dec. 2025, said the agency’s funding for this year had recently improved due to US support but remained “well below the needs.”
UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen
https://arab.news/yx4bn
UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls as displacement crises worsen
- More than 123 million people displaced around the world
- Continued air strikes set to worsen Lebanon displacement
- Calls for drastic increase in support for Sudanese refugees
Bangladesh rocked by unrest over death of student leader
- Protesters torch media offices, political sites and cultural landmarks
- Government declares state of mourning, urges calm amid rising tensions
Violent protests erupted in several cities across Bangladesh after the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi late on Thursday, with concerns of further unrest ahead of national elections in which he was due to run.
Hadi, 32, a spokesperson for the Inquilab Mancha platform who participated in the student-led protests that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last Friday while launching his campaign for the elections.
He was initially treated at a local hospital before being flown to Singapore for advanced medical care, where he died after spending six days on life support.
Hadi was an outspoken critic of India, and Inquilab Mancha describes itself on its website as a “revolutionary cultural platform inspired by the spirit of uprising.”
In Dhaka, videos circulating on social media showed mobs vandalising the offices of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, as well as the Daily Star.
The demonstrations were marked by emotionally charged slogans invoking Hadi’s name, with protesters vowing to continue their movement and demanding swift justice. Several areas remained tense, with additional police and paramilitary forces deployed to prevent further violence.
Police did not immediately comment, while the fire service said the blaze at the Daily Star was under control. Troops were deployed to the scene, and firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.
Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, after Hasina fled to India following a student-led uprising. The government has been grappling with fresh protests over delayed reforms, and warnings of unrest by Hasina’s party, which has been barred from the vote, scheduled for February 12.
In a televised address to the nation following Hadi’s death, Yunus said: “His passing represents an irreplaceable loss to the nation’s political and democratic sphere.”
Urging citizens to remain calm, Yunus said the government was committed to ensuring a transparent investigation and bringing all those responsible to justice. He also appealed for restraint, warning that violence would only undermine the country’s path toward a credible election.
The interim administration has declared Saturday a day of state mourning in honor of Hadi, with national flags to be flown at half-mast and special prayers planned across the country. The home of the country’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Hasina, was vandalized and set on fire once again, after having been attacked twice previously in February and August last year.
In Dhaka, the premises of the prominent Bengali cultural organization Chhayanaut were vandalized and torched. In the northwestern district of Rajshahi, protesters demolished an Awami League party office using a bulldozer, while demonstrators blocked major highways in several other districts.
Violence was also reported in a number of cities across Bangladesh, including the port city of Chittagong, where protesters attacked the Indian Assistant High Commission and set fire to a house belonging to a former Awami League education minister. The unrest follows fresh anti-India protests earlier in the week, with ties between the neighbors deteriorating since Hasina fled to Delhi. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators under the banner “July Oikya” (July Unity) marched toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, chanting anti-India slogans, while also demanding the return of Hasina.
