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UNHCR: Press conference - Annual Report on Forced Displacement 10 June2024
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Press Conferences
UNHCR: Press conference - Annual Report on Forced Displacement - 10 June 2024
TITLE: UNHCR warns against apathy and inaction amid spike in forced displacement COUNTRY: Switzerland
LOCATION: Palais des Nations
SHOOT DATE: 10 June 2024
RELEASE DATE: 13 June 2024
CREDITS: Linda Muriuki, Producer / Alex St-Denis, Editor / UNTV, Camera SOURCE: IUNTV - UNHCR
LANGUAGE: English
DURATION: 5:30 mins
LEDE-IN: Overall numbers of people forced to flee, rise to 120 million by May 2024 with conflicts from Sudan to Gaza to Myanmar creating new displacement and urgently require resolution.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Forced displacement surged to historic new levels across the globe last year and this, according to the 2024 flagship Global Trends Report from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
The rise in overall forced displacement – to 120 million by May 2024 – was the 12th consecutive annual increase and reflects both new and mutating conflicts and a failure to resolve long-standing crises.
The figure would make the global displaced population equivalent to the 12th largest country in the world, around the size of Japan’s.
A key factor driving the figures higher has been the devastating conflict in Sudan: at the end of 2023, 10.8 million Sudanese remained uprooted. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, millions were internally displaced last year by vicious fighting. UNRWA estimates that by the end of last year, up to 1.7 million people (75 per cent of the population) had been displaced in the Gaza Strip by the catastrophic violence, most of whom were Palestine refugees. Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million forcibly displaced in and outside the country.
The largest increase in displacement figures came from people fleeing conflict who remain in their own country, rising to 68.3 million people according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre – up almost 50 per cent over five years.
The number of refugees, and others in need of international protection, climbed to 43.4 million when including those under UNHCR and UNRWA’s mandates. The vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighbouring their own, with 75 per cent residing in low- and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20 per cent of the world’s income.
The report showed that worldwide, more than 5 million internally displaced people and 1 million refugees returned home in 2023. These figures show some progress towards longer-term solutions. Positively, resettlement arrivals increased to almost 160,000 in 2023.
SHOTLIST:
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:14
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“We estimate that the most updated figure is now 120 million. So, it has gone up by another 6 million. These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence. And they've had to flee their homes, either in their own country or crossing borders and becoming refugees. 120 million is a pretty high figure. And what is also very significant, most regrettably, it is that it is the 12th consecutive year in which this figure goes up and on this occasion, on this, June occasion, conflict remains a very, very big driver of displacement.”
00:01:04:09 - 00:01:38:21
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“I mean, many conflicts have driven this, growth in displacement. I would certainly single out Sudan because in Sudan, where the conflict has now been going on, this phase of the conflict has been going on for 14 months, almost 14 months. the number of people displaced is staggering. About 9 million either internally displaced or about 2 million that have crossed borders. Now, some of them
Page 2 of 2
13 Jun, 2024 12:24 PM
were already counted under last year's report, but that figure has kept growing in Chad alone. people are arriving in the hundreds every day.
00:01:50:23- 00:02:12:00
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
The other crisis that I wanted to single out is Myanmar. Of course, not only because UNHCR remains deeply engaged with the Rohingya refugees that have fled from Myanmar, but also because since the coup d'état a few years back, violence has continued to grow inside the country.”
00:02:12:18 - 00:02:42:23
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“But this report says very clearly, once again, that 75% of those forcibly displaced, be they internally or externally forcibly displaced, live in countries that are either poor or middle income countries. So the big force displacement phenomenon is not in the rich country. In spite of the perception.”
00:02:42:28 - 00:03:18:02
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“Funding has remained extremely, extremely tight, as usual you may say, but with the increase in challenges, in numbers of people, in in different crisis with the strong attraction for funding represented by situations in the Middle East, Gaza in particular, or Ukraine, clearly some other operation, some other situations, Sudan in particular.”
00:03:18:04 - 00:03:31:00
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the Afghan situation remain and many others, Congo remain severely underfund so that is an area that needs a lot of attention.”
00:03:31:13 - 00:04:02:01
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
One should add, increasingly tight environment in which especially refugees move into, especially in rich countries, restrictive laws, constrains in some cases outright signal phobia and, and hostility often fueled by some politicians. All of this creates an extremely difficult environment, which, of course, we must meet. We must continue to work in.”
00:04:02:15 - 00:04:38:10
-Filippo Grandi – UN High Commissioner for refugees (Man, English)
“Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up, maybe not significantly. If we're lucky and we have no new conflicts, but even the non- resolution of the old ones means that, you know, also refugees increase in numbers. so. I hope still that there that somebody will see that there is a need for that light at the end of the tunnel. But at the moment I remain very, prudent in this respect.”
SHOTLIST:
Various of cut aways at Press Conferencee
June 10, 2024
RF1357013
UNHCR's Annual Report Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2024
Speakers:
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Tarek Abou Chabake, UNHCR Chief statistician
Under strict embargo until 13 June 2024 05:01 CEST
TERMS OF USAGE OF THE EDITED STORY ONLY: Mandatory on-screen credit in the format '© UNHCR' is required for any and all usage of UNHCR footage and ‘© UNHCR’ is required for audio and multimedia unless stated otherwise.
Teleprompter
Good afternoon, everyone.
I hope you can hear me clearly.
I think we're ready to to start.
So I'm Shabia Mantu, I'm a spokesperson for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and we're very happy to welcome you here today to the embargoed press briefing we have for the release of our flagship yearly report called Global Trends, which as you know, provides the latest annual statistics on the state of worldwide force displacement.
We will come to the to the to the press briefing and I will introduce our very special guests.
But before that also I would like to mention a new senior appointment here at UNHCR.
We have a new head of the Global Communication Service, Ewan Watson, who's here with us also in the room.
So do do make Ewan feel welcome.
And yeah, and of course, he's no stranger to the press corps here in in Geneva and elsewhere, but we'd like to welcome him.
So I'm very delighted to to introduce you again to bring back our UN **** Commissioner of Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and also UNHCRS Chief Statistician Tarek Abu Shabaka, who is the mastermind behind the report.
So we will go through the embargoed press briefing.
I'd like to remind you all that there is a very strict embargo of one minute past 5:00 in the morning, Central European summertime and that is on Thursday, 14th of June.
So we would just ask you to respect the embargo and make sure nothing related to the reporting of the, the report and the briefing today is, is not released or published before then.
And we hope you've also received the embargoed media page and materials as well.
You would have received an e-mail for that.
And if you haven't do contact us after afterwards.
So I just also want to say that given we have the the presence of our **** Commissioner here, we will go to the embargoed part of the briefing.
First we'll go to remarks by the **** Commissioner and questions and answers with the **** Commissioner and also Tarek.
But afterwards we will have a few minutes for a non embargoed part of the briefing in case there are other questions that you would like to to pose, but we will signal when that will start.
So without further ado, let's go over to the **** Commissioner.
Thank you, Shabia and good afternoon everybody.
This is our yearly statistical moment.
As you know, we do it every year and of course we update statistics fairly regularly, but this is fairly symbolic.
It comes just before World Refugee Day, which is on the 20th of June, and it's meant really to shed a light on the global situation of forced displacement.
So it is about refugees, it is about people displaced in their own countries.
It is in fact also about stateless people that fall under our mandate.
The figure of this year, and this is the main piece of news that I have to share with you is higher than last year.
We estimate or we estimated that at the end of 20, sorry the the last figure that we have been sharing with you if you recall was 114 million.
So we estimate that the most updated figure is now 120 million, so it has gone up by another 6,000,000.
These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence.
And I've had to flee their their homes either in their own country or crossing borders and becoming refugees.
120 million.
This is a pretty **** figure.
And what is also very significant, most regrettably, it is that it is the 12th consecutive year in which this figure goes up on this occasion, on this June occasion.
Conflict remains a very, very big driver of displacement.
Last year, UNHCR declared 43 emergencies in 29 countries.
I use this figure frequently because I think it's interesting.
I've been, you know, I've said it many times, I've been looking back at what we did, what we have done in past years.
This figure until 2-3 years ago used to be on average 8 maximum 10 * a year.
It's gone up four times the number of Emirates.
You know, we have certain criteria to declare an emergency that requires specific resources 43 times.
These are new conflicts or conflicts that are already ongoing and have a particular surge in violence or in impact on civilians.
And of course, you must have, well, maybe, maybe not.
Some of you must may have followed what I said to the Security Council just a few days ago.
Literally the way conflicts are conducted by the parties almost everywhere, by almost all parties, in complete disregard of the laws of war, of international humanitarian law, and often with the specific purpose of terrorising people, of making people instil fear in people.
This of course is a powerful contributor to more displacement than even in the past.
And This is why IHL is such an important feature of the work of many of us in the aid community, not only ICRC that has the custodianship of, of that set of laws, but for all of us.
It's very, very important.
The big, I mean, many conflicts have driven this growth in displacement.
I would certainly single out Sudan because in Sudan, where the conflict has now been going on, this phase of the conflict has been going on for 14 months, almost 14 months, The number of people displaced is staggering, about 9 million either internally displaced or about two million that have crossed borders now.
Some of them were already counted under last year's report, but that figure has kept growing.
In Chad alone, people are arriving in the hundreds every day.
Just to give you an example, in South Sudan, where I will be for World Refugee Day, same.
And in other countries, I can speak more about Sudan, I am very keen to single it out first because I think it is a crisis that and this is not applying to you who report from here.
So hear about that a lot, but generally doesn't really make it to the headline, is a very forgotten crisis, although it's one of the most catastrophic ones, not just in terms of displacement, but in terms of hunger, lack of access, violation of human rights and so forth.
The other crisis that I wanted to single out is Myanmar, of course, not only because UNHR remains deeply engaged with the Rohingya refugees that have fled from Myanmar, but also because since the coup d'etat few years back, violence has continued to grow inside the country.
Violence carried out in the fights in the different, different conflicts between the military that are in power in Nepitao and different armed groups representing different ethnic groups.
We're particularly, we're particularly worried about what's happening in Rakhine State.
This is in the West of the country.
This is the the state from which the Rohingya originate and the the situation is very complex there because a new conflict or not a new conflict, an existing conflict has now escalated between the Myanmar army, the Tatma Dao and the Arakan Army, which is one of these ethnic armed groups.
And this is causing all sorts of problem and impact, including on the Rohingya.
But suffice it to say that I remember I briefed the Council in October last year.
I told them that there was an escalation of conflict inside the country that was going to cause displacement.
I briefed them again a few days ago and I told them that between the briefing last time and now, 1 1/2 more million people that were displaced, and they will be, almost all of them counted in this new report.
And then there is Gaza.
You know, UNHR is not involved in Gaza for all the reasons that we've mentioned to you many times, but this report is about displacement globally, not just of people whom we deal with as an organisation.
So of course in Gaza live normally before this round of conflict, before the 7th of October lived about I think it's 1.61.7 Palestine refugees.
These are counted under our statistics as refugees, although they are the responsibility of ANRA, as you know now many of them are displaced.
The the, the estimate is that well over 1.7 million people in Gaza have been displaced.
As you all know, many of them being pushed against the Egyptian border, many of them are Palestinian refugees already.
So somehow for them it's a repeat of history to be displaced.
Now, without going into too many technical details, we have not counted these people twice.
So if they were already counted as Palestine refugees, unfortunately now they're also displaced, but they were not counted again.
But those that were not refugees, just Gaza citizens, and they were displaced are part of this increased number.
Am I correct in saying I'm speaking under his control?
Because it's very complex issues.
There's many other places where displacement has increased, but these are the ones that I wanted to single out also because they are the most current.
But we should not forget the very long endless conflict that continue to have an element of displacement.
Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, many others.
I can speak about more if you wish.
Just a few thematic issue that I wanted to add 1 is let's forget.
Let's not forget.
I said it many times to you here and elsewhere that these population movements that we're talking about, that I reported here are of an extreme complexity.
We call them mixed flaws.
It's a bit of a dry word, but it describes how complicated and complex they are.
The factors, the drivers I mentioned conflict and violence, violations of human rights, but increasingly they get mixed with other factors.
Climate in particular, or climate change rather has an impact on population movement and in particular this is that the aspect of the climate crisis that was of interest to UNHCR, it has a close relationship with conflict.
It can be a driver of conflict and hands of displacement, especially when you know, the very scarce resources of poor communities become even scarcer then because of climate change that drives conflict.
We've seen it in so many parts in Africa, in the Sahel for example, in the Horn of Africa, but also elsewhere.
So this is an important feature.
And then you have this population movements that with increased human mobility tend to move from 1 country to the other and sometimes reach the shores of the Mediterranean or the US Mexican border or South Africa or Southeast Asia and so forth.
And of course, especially when these flows reach rich countries immediately, because rich countries drive global communications, the perception that is generated is that all the refugees or all the migrants go to these rich countries.
But this report says very clearly once again that 75% of those forcibly displaced, be they internally or externally forcibly displaced, live in countries that are either poor or middle income countries.
So the big force, force displacement phenomenon is not in the rich country.
In spite of the perception, solutions are very rare.
I think that our statistics say that about 5 to 6,000,006 million people have returned to their home during last year.
This is mostly the internally displaced people that have found a solution.
Only about 1,000,000 refugees here and there have been able to go back to their country, a very small figure compared to the total.
So there is no comparison between newly displaced and those that are not displaced anymore.
The disproportion is such that This is why this figure continue to go to go up.
But of course, solutions do exist.
I want to mention, I know my colleagues have mentioned this many times to you, but let me mention at least one important initiative, that of the government of Kenya, the Sharika Plan.
It's called.
The President has decided and the country has the the institutions have approved that the 600 for the 600,000 refugees in Kenya, mostly Somalis and S Sudanese measures will be progressively taken to include them in the communities in which they live.
I can give you more details, but I consider that a little bit in counter tendency a positive trend and Kenya being an important country in East Africa, a leading country in a way.
I hope that this will have a positive impact also on other on other countries.
Another team I wanted to mention is that funding has remained extremely, extremely tight as usual, you may say.
But with the increase in challenges in in numbers of people in in different crises with the the strong attraction for funding represented by situations in the Middle East as in particular or Ukraine, clearly some other operations, some other situations, Sudan in particular, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the Afghan situation remain and many others Congo remain severely underfunded.
So that is an area that needs a lot of attention.
You will see from the statistics very interesting that there is a rise again Tariq S peak under your control in the number of new asylum claims.
This number is growing, and this is significant because in many countries this goes in parallel with an increase in the backlog of unresolved asylum claim.
The biggest backlog is probably in the United States, and This is why we keep telling governments that it is extremely important to invest resources in asylum systems in order to become more efficient in adjudicating asylum claims.
I could give you a lot more examples or aspects, but I'll stop here.
I just want to conclude by saying, you know, some of you may ask me, so is this a very difficult moment?
Yeah, it is a very difficult moment.
I think the combination of conflict of other complex drivers of displacement of, as I said to the Security Council, very fragmented international politics, which means less political solutions to conflict and hence less solutions to force displacement.
The one should add increasingly tight environment in which especially refugees move into, especially in rich countries, restrictive laws, constraints in some cases, outright xenophobia and and and hostility often fuelled by some politicians.
All of this creates an extremely difficult environment, which of course we must, we must continue to work in.
You know that in December last year we convened the second Global Refugee Forum, 4000 people came, hundreds of pledges were made.
I think it was a very positive moment, showing that when people are motivated around an issue, which is well explained with clear propositions of concrete action, you can still operate together.
But it's tough and becoming more difficult and we need international support for that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi Commissioner.
So we will then go to questions about the the global trends report and the remarks that the **** Commissioner has made about that.
So I see some hands in the room and online.
Let's start with Nina.
And if you cannot, just when we open the mic to state your name and affiliation again.
Sure, thank you.
So Nina Larsen, AFP.
So I'll only ask questions about the report now.
I have other questions.
OK, great.
So I just wanted to ask you talk about the 12th consecutive year that this number has gone up.
Is there any any reason to believe that that trend might turn around or we can we just expect this this trend to keep growing?
You were mentioning the difficult political climate and everything is, do you sort of see any light at the end of that tunnel?
Thank you.
Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up.
Maybe not significantly if we're lucky and we have no new conflict, but even the non resolution of the old ones means that you know, also refugees increase in numbers.
So I hope still that there that somebody will see that there is a need for that light at the end of the tunnel.
But at the moment I remain very prudent in in this in this respect.
We have seen the debate in the counts in the the Security Council is in a way the thermometer of, of the backgrounds of the situations in which we operate, right of of of your question of whether we will move toward a more favourable context in terms of peacemaking.
And frankly, all I see in the debates on the council is great deal of divisiveness on everything, even, you know, arriving at conclusions on humanitarian resolutions like we've seen around Gaza, for example, but Sudan is the same and we've seen it in Ukraine, seems very difficult for the council.
So if they if they cannot agree, the hope for solutions is, is is weakening and that is very bad.
But I can assure you that we won't give up.
OK, let's go to Musa.
Please state your name and affiliation.
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OK, let's go to the online platform.
We've got a a number of participants also online, so we'll start with Lauren.
Lauren also, if you can, state your full name and affiliation.
Sure.
Laurel 0 Swiss News Agency.
Thanks for the press conference and Congrats to E1 that I saw on the on the screen.
Actually it's a follow up to the to the previous answer, but.
On the on the.
Broader on a different topic on the resettlement question, because there is that figure in the report that mentions 160,000 which is growing, but last week you released another figure, the one of almost 3 million people that will need that next year.
So the question would be, with all the numerous election this year in dozens of countries and the results that we saw yesterday in the European election, how does that might affect the possibility for resettlement?
Next year, according to you.
Thank you.
I hope not too much.
A resettlement is a solution that many states understand.
It is a safe and controlled way for refugees to move from 1 country to the other and that's needs to be remembered.
You are right to say that the the needs remain enormous, disproportionate to the offer 3 million people.
That's our estimate of people that need would need resettlement.
But it's good that we have seen an increase.
You know, the increase has been driven largely by the very steep increase in resettlement figures in the United States, and that continues to be growing.
Actually, we will probably have even more this year than last year.
So that's good.
We're still very far because in fact, the problem is that other countries are not well.
You know, Canada, Australia, Germany are quite good, but other countries are not contributing enough.
I go back to the point that I made in French a few moments ago.
These very complicated flows into Europe, into US that are very problematic to deal with.
I want to repeat what I said also in English.
You cannot only deal with one aspect of it.
And, you know, states tend to deal with the control aspect and their own border.
Often it's too late to solve these problems when people come at your border because it becomes very, very complicated legally, operationally, politically and so forth.
So we're really telling everybody look at the whole route from the beginning to the end.
And there are so many solutions that can be found for people along these routes.
Resettlement is one of them, resettlement and other pathways as we call them now, because there's not just resettlement in the US in the in the Americas with the United States, we have launched this new project that is called the Safe Mobility Offices.
So people on the ways are screened very fast, and those that are eligible for resettlement or other forms of residence in the United States can go through an accelerated procedure.
This is good, this is positive.
We're telling European countries to look at that model because maybe it can be used here.
And remember, in the end, Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, rich countries need more people, need more people to work, need more people in their public services, in their health services, need more people to take care of an ageing population.
This is very important, it's an opportunity, but this needs to be regulated much better so that the flow of people is legally safe and doesn't cause all the problems that irregular flows are causing.
Having said all this, even with much more resettlement, even with a more regulated set of pathways, we always say this should not be at the expense of asylum in Europe.
Meaning that there will even if you have all the pathways in the world, there will be still people that arrive in the in Europe directly and seek asylum.
That right to seek asylum in Europe must be maintained.
It's not because you have other pathways that everybody can go through them.
So you have to maintain that right because if Europe gives up the the the offer of giving asylum to people arriving or the honest territory, the whole world will backtrack from that and then we will have people trapped in wars, trapped in situation of ***** of human rights.
Thank you.
And colleagues, please in case of any other questions, do keep your, your hands raised in the chat.
And also before we go to our next question, just to I think I misspoke before and I said the embargoed release is on Thursday, 14th June, but it's obviously Thursday 13th of June.
So just to clarify.
So let's go back to to our questions.
We have Lisa online.
Lisa, over to you.
Thanks, Shabia.
Lisa Sly, Voice for America Commissioner, you were talking about the issue of asylum in the European Union.
I'd like to have your comment on the new Biden policy regarding immigration and tightening the the US borders against people who are fleeing from various countries.
And in specific, specifically what it does, is it it, it sort of reduces the number of people who are able to apply for asylum?
Is this in accordance with international refugee law?
I mean, if you, if you arbitrarily or maybe deliberately, whatever it is, decide that 2500 people can apply in one day and that 2500 and one person, the first person cannot apply, is this all right?
Yeah, Actually you, you must have seen our press release the last week.
I, I happened to be in Washington on that day myself.
So we, we worked on that and put it out and we said we, we answered exactly your question.
Yeah, of course this by the way, just for everybody's clarity, this applies to people that cross the non official border crossing, not the official border crossing.
Those do not have limits but or have other criteria.
But for the non official you have a kind of cap.
Now, I don't know exactly how they call it, but it's a kind of cap.
And of course, we would say that if, when, if, when that is applied, it will prevent some people that have the right to seek asylum from doing so.
So in that sense, it is a variance with refugee law.
I just want to say, and not to try to make this less serious, because it is very serious.
I just want to say, remember that.
Meanwhile, lots of other people can have access to the territory in the United States.
Those crossing through the approved points, those coming from through resettlement, very **** figure their target this year is 125,000.
Those coming through the safe mobility offices and different parole arrangements.
We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people.
So the US continues to be a generous country in terms of receiving people.
But of course, because it has a phenomenal challenge along the border, they have now taken measures some of which we believe go beyond what we would accept as in line with the law.
OK.
Any other questions in the room?
If not we, we will then perhaps move to the non embargoed part of the roofing.
So just a last chance for any other questions you have a question for the global trends report or the non embargoed?
OK, I'll just give it a last opportunity for questions on global trends.
And as we mentioned, do let us know in case you haven't received any of the materials, but hopefully that is that that has been received.
OK.
Well then that concludes the global trends portion of the briefing.
And as we mentioned at the start, we have a little opportunity having the the, the the presence of our **** Commissioner here for a non embargoed part of the briefing in which you could use the responses for publishing soon as we we conclude.
So we'll go to Nina first.
Can I just start before Nina speaks?
The previous question also is not embargoed, OK, on the US because this was just not to contradict you, but that was not really about global trends.
So Lisa, please use that question.
No problem.
Yeah.
OK, sure.
So just just to clarify, the last question is non embargoed the question on the US, yeah.
In Gaza too.
Could I?
It's only the ones about the figures and the trends, but.
Yeah, I was going to say if it would be possible to just have a reaction to the European elections and the very far right winds that that we saw there and what that might have as of an impact when it comes to migration and refugee.
What reaction do want?
I'm not a politician.
I voted.
I'm a European.
For, for, I mean what it will have to do, I mean, say, for refugees and the acceptance of refugees.
Look, a couple of things because I think this is an important question.
First of all, I do sincerely hope that now that at least at European level the campaign is over because the election has been held, some of the anti migration and anti refugee rhetoric that we heard during the campaign will go down.
OK, you've made your point.
Some of you may have even got votes because of that.
Now let's get to work, which is the most important thing.
And then that's the point.
We work, we will work with whoever will will be part of the European institutions.
You know, we work with all of them.
Parliament, Council and Commission.
There will be 3 new sets of institutions.
We'll work with all of them.
Europe has the, the institutions, as you know, adopted A pact for migration and asylum in the outgoing institutions that will continue to be to be carried out.
They are in a two year preparation.
For the implementation of the PACT.
And we think we've said it many times, the pact is not flawless.
The pact is complex to apply.
But I hope, and this is my hope, maybe my trust, but certainly my hope that the new institutions will uphold the PACT and will implement it.
Because the implementation of the PACT, if they managed to do it again, complex, difficult, could I think could improve the situation, the management of these complex arrivals in Europe.
But by the way, and this is again another aspect of my reaction, one important aspect of the Pact is external, addressing root causes, climate, conflict, poverty.
For these complex flows, those addressing the root causes will require substantive political and economic and financial investments on the part of Europe.
So another hope that I have for the new institutions is that these investments even increase even more than the past institutions.
Europe must be a political player.
Europe is a big humanitarian donor, is a big development actor.
This needs to become much more strategic in order to address the causes of these movements and help all the countries in transit.
But but they need to be accompanied by robust, unified political action by European countries.
Given the divisions that I've spoken about globally that seem to be reflected in part also in Europe, it is a concern.
But without that political unity to address, you know, no matter how much noise European politicians make about walls, push backs, closing here, closing there, they will not solve the problem.
The problem is very strategic and requires a lot of work on all these fronts.
Hope the new institutions will do that, but we will work with anybody as usual.
OK.
Let's go back on to the online platform and I see we have a question from Maya.
Maya also if you can state your full name and affiliation.
Thank you very much for taking my question.
Shabia and Maya plants from the UN brief.
And my question is related to Latin America and the Caribbean.
What are the drivers of forced population displacement?
What are the trends you are seeing in this report?
We're back to the report now.
It's all right.
Use your judgement please, because this is, if it's about the report, maybe this should wait until Thursday.
But I think like I said in my introduction, conflict continues to be a driver.
Look at Haiti for example.
Difficult situation of human rights is another driver.
Look at Nicaragua.
Then you have very complex situations like Venezuela where you have a mix of different factors, including a, a crisis in public services, in law and order in some places of the country.
This also drives, drives people, you know, moves people.
So you have different and you have increasingly look at Ecuador, look at certain countries in Central America, criminal gangs perpetrating violence of a kind that implies things that normally states do like occupy territory or forcibly recruit children or you know, minors or abusing women for the sake of intimidating communities extortions.
So this type of violence also generates a lot of displacement in Latin America and in other places, but especially there.
And so it's once again an array of causes that create displacement.
And they all need to be addressed in their own merit so that it's a mix of political action in the cases of conflict.
It's a mix.
It's a, it's, it's there's a big development component and there are other, you know, like we said, complementary pathways, resettlement, other solution for the people on the move.
Again, there's not one magic wand that solves it all.
You have to have a package of solutions and approaches.
Thank you.
Hi, Commissioner, May, I've got a hand raised for you again.
Is it a follow up question or it's a new question or it's maybe just an old hand?
You know, it's a follow up question.
It's actually about the Brazil, also the case of Brazil, if Mr Grandy could comment on that.
And also if it would be possible to have more often press conferences, press briefings on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, because I feel like we don't cover that enough here at the UN in Geneva.
On your second point, I pass it on to my colleagues.
I'm sure that they'll be happy to oblige.
We have quite a lot of work in that region and very interesting things to share.
So definitely I agree with you.
I mean, I don't know how much is done, but if more needs to be done, I think it's good.
And by the way, together with IOM as well, we work very closely with IOM in the Americas.
And I think it would be good to also to speak together about what we do jointly on Brazil.
I don't know about the comment, maybe simply to say that of course we have a big programme there.
Brazil host a large number of Venezuelans, but also of refugees from many other parts of the world.
The government of President Lula has been very open in that sense.
We have been working closely on certain things, in particular with the Brazilian government, in particular strengthening their capacity to manage refugees from many parts of the world, Afghanistan, for example, Syria, you know, Brazil didn't necessarily have that capacity to begin with.
It's a country very far away.
But the fact that they made available, you know, they made the protection available to these people is very, very commendable.
And but Brazil asked us to work together to strengthen their capacity to handle that.
And of course, especially for the many Venezuelans and other people from the region that are in the country, we have worked with Brazil or we have helped Brazil because they have the leadership on this in creating integration opportunities.
I visited myself and my colleagues know well very interesting programmes of I, I think it's called interior is a Sao in Portuguese, which means integration and they're extremely interesting with the private sector of Brazil also very deeply involved.
Finally, what we have observed is populations that have resided for a long time in Brazil and for economic reason, especially during COVID and not having any more ways to be supported.
Moving on.
Many of the Haitians that we have seen on the move, at least some of the Haitian, they don't necessarily come from Haiti.
During this crisis.
They were already in Brazil, Chile and other places and they moved on.
So complex situations like I said, that need to be unpacked and dealt with piece by piece.
Thank you.
Hi, Commissioner.
And my, I wasn't sure if your question was in the context of global trends, but Tarek, I'm not sure if you wanted to add anything on Brazil in terms of the the report or any observations of the Venezuela situation.
Not necessarily.
Just to confirm, the number is quite striking.
If you look at the annex tables of the report, once you have a chance, the number exceeds half a million.
That's spread across asylum seekers, refugees and other people in need of international protection.
So it's quite a striking, striking number for Brazil itself.
And also maybe just Maya, we're very encouraged by your interest in the region.
In fact, we have a very active colleagues who are continue who continue to communicate and advocate.
And we also count on your support and the support of the press corps to really keep the visibility on these crises because there's a lot of forced displacement in other regions across the world, including in Brazil and many other countries in the region that are doing such a remarkable job of hosting refugees.
And they don't necessarily have the the largest amount of visibility.
But well, noted that there's, there's definitely a continued interest in that.
So I think we have another 5 minutes before we conclude the briefing.
There have been a few sections which have been non embargoed.
If you are confused about them or it's a bit unclear, please come to us.
But just to reiterate that anything related to the Global Trends report or about the figures is obviously embargoed.
But as the **** Commissioner mentioned, the answers to the question on Gaza, the US and and the European election is not embargoed.
But in case of any clarity that is required, again, do come to us.
We'll go over to you for our perhaps, I think we have room for two more questions.
So for you 2 first and then we'll, we'll see in the platform.
Gabrielle Tutorfiber Rd News Agency Just to go back to Sudan, there's been the closure of the hospital now Fasher it's things are not going well in Darfur.
I'm just wondering what kind of access in light of the recent fighting, does UNHCR have and what kind of resources it able to get through the.
Through to Darfur from Chad.
Thank you.
Very limited access and very limited resources, unfortunately.
In fact, these are the two big challenges in responding to that crisis, besides the politics, which is not our domain, but hopefully somebody takes care of that.
But access is difficult.
You know, you need to have access both across front lines inside Sudan and across border outs from outside Sudan.
And this has been a challenge, has been a challenge because it means bringing aid from the zone controlled by one of the two to the other and they're not necessarily very keen to allow us to do that.
So it's been, we've been able to do it, but much less than needed.
Likewise cross-border.
You know, initially we used to cross mostly at least the UN through Adre, through Chad.
Then the Sudanese Armed Forces asked us to pass through another crossing point, which for them was safer.
I mean, not safer.
It was more according to their own views.
And that caused a lot of delays.
So we need to go back to being able to cross lines and borders to the most expeditious points.
Our purpose is not military.
We're not supporting any faction.
We're supporting civilians that are starving.
And by the way, we want to be present in those areas also as a tool of protection.
We hear so much for refuge from refugees coming in to chat, for example, about horrifying abuses, ****, recruitment of children.
Once again, I when I was there, I even heard about mutilations.
It's pretty horrifying what's happening in Darfur in particular, but not only also in parts of court of fan in Khartoum city and in other places.
So very bad situation.
The other one is money.
You know, there was this conference in Paris, 2 billion, more than $2 billion offer the pledged very little has reached us.
We're still, when I say ask not to just unit share, in fact, the the aid community, we're still very poorly funded inside Sudan and in refugee hosting countries.
So we are now following up with the those that pledged to accelerate those pledges because the combination of no access and no money, you can understand means that we cannot do what we need to do.
And if you, if you read WFP's and FA OS report, you see that the indicators of famine are going up.
And like I said, human rights violations are multiplying.
Very bad situation.
I think it's really one of the worst in the world and one of the least supported in the world.
OK, thank you.
So we have room for one last question.
Actually, we've got two hands.
So maybe we'll we'll listen to them both and then we'll go over to the **** Commissioner.
But if you can please just keep it a little concise.
So maybe if it's OK, Lauren, we'll go to Catherine and then to so Catherine, maybe we unmute you first.
Thank you so much, Shabia.
And, and good afternoon to all of you.
Catherine, Fiona, Congo conga France Vancatra.
I'd like to to to catch up about what Mr Filippo Grand, who just said about pledges.
I have the.
Impression when you we listen now to heads of humanitarian entities that there's a kind of movement of countries that are.
In fact, doing pledges and then not donating.
So is it something that you, you, you see that countries are not respecting in fact the pledges that they are doing during big conferences international?
Conferences, thank you so much.
Thank you, Catherine.
We'll come back to you, but we'll go to Laron to take your question and then the **** Commissioner will answer both.
Yeah, thanks.
So in five days there will be that summit on the peace in Ukraine, in the Bergenstock, and in all the different plans that are going to be discussed, there is no real mention of refugees.
There is a.
Call to repatriate the children that were sent to to Russia, but what would you like as the **** Commissioner for Refugees to be added in the discussions because most of the countries that are present that will be present.
Our countries, which host a.
A number of Ukrainian refugees.
Thank you.
Yeah, neither is embargo actually.
Very good questions.
Please use them.
No, on the first one, on the 1st Katyn's question, just to say.
Well look, normally at least in UNHCRS case, most of the pledges we receive are honoured eventually.
But it is true, following things are true.
It may not apply to all other organisations.
It does not apply to all donors.
Some are a bit less diligent than others.
And it takes a longer time than before.
Partly a lot, because there are so many strings attached to this, to this contribution.
You know, I remember a time, allow me to remember back then a time when there was much more flexibility.
Flexibility is key.
When you deal with a situation like Sudan, you have to move around, you have to be able to use for different purposes.
And when you deal with multi crisis, you have to be able to say OK, today Sudan is fine, I need to put the money in Congo.
You know, this is not to misuse funds, this is to use them where it is most urgently needed.
We are losing that big time.
We're losing that flexibility.
You know, that is even worse than pledges that are slow.
This what is called in this language, You know it because you are in Geneva.
Earmarking, terrible word translated for people who don't understand earmarking, but it's really inflexible money, earmark money.
And it's like this.
And we get more and more negative earmarking.
You cannot do this.
You cannot do that.
This is very serious.
We cannot, you know, humanitarians should be given the trust to use the money where they see fit.
And of course, then we'll put in place all the control mechanism that we can put in place to give guarantees.
We want donors to tell their taxpayers that the money is well used, clearly.
So we'll do that.
But please, please help us make a pitch for more flexibility because this is really tying our hands in a manner that does not allow us to work as well as we could.
And the other question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's a great question.
First of all, I stated the obvious that I stated so many times, especially after my last visit there in January.
Please let's not forget that beyond the politics and the military aspect of this terrible crisis that are filling the headlines, understandably, there is a human impact that was very visible in Europe in particular at the beginning, because all the refugees streamed into the in into our countries here, but has been a bit lost since because now the main impact is in Ukraine itself.
This, this terrible bombings, destruction of power.
Infrastructure of houses, of civilian housing is causing so much hardship.
And when you go there, you see and you know, a lot of the people that are left in those parts of Ukraine are elderly people or very vulnerable people.
And it's heartbreaking to have to see them flee in the middle of winter, you know, how cold it is there, etcetera, etcetera.
So that human aspect is still there.
So there is still a humanitarian operation that needs to be carried out.
I, you know, no matter how fast or not fast, the political process moves.
And then I think, and this is perhaps more the question which is very important, I think it's important that Europe in particular thinks about refugees and solutions for refugees.
I know that you may say the fighting is still going on.
I just said myself, displacement is still happening, but hopefully at some point, if these efforts are meant to bring peace, there will be an opportunity for people to go back.
It is very important that there are plans in place to do it correctly.
You know, there is.
It's not just the material support for people going back.
It is also to help them reintegrating communities that have gone through a lot through the war since they left.
So, you know, bringing back people that have left to a zone of war, ensuring the social cohesion of this reconstituted community requires investments.
I've seen it myself already, because some people are going back.
It requires investments.
So I hope that there will be in these efforts that are being planned, also a dimension which is not just humanitarian, but specifically targeted at displaced and refugees.
Thank you.
Hi, Commissioner.
And we have unfortunately run out of time, so we'd like to thank you all for joining us here today.
And and as I mentioned, feel free to get in touch with us regarding any questions on the briefing.
But thank you and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
And we'd like to thank our guests for joining us.
Thank you and goodbye.