San Francisco Frontiers - Global 'fragmentation' fuelling world's crises: UN refugee chief

Reflecting on his decade at the helm of the UNHCR, Filippo Grandi told AFP that one of the most worrying developments had been how divisions had left the world seemingly incapable of resolving conflicts -- and increasingly unwilling to deal with the repercussions.

"This fragmentation of geopolitics that has caused the emergence of so many crises is perhaps the most worrying thing," the Italian diplomat said in his final interview as UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"This world is unable to make peace; has become totally unable to make peace."

Grandi meanwhile lamented a "race to the bottom" in terms of countries tightening laws and practices to keep asylum seekers and refugees out.

He noted "a growing hostility, a rhetoric by the populist politicians targeting and scapegoating people on the move".

- 'Horrifying violations' -

Speaking at UNHCR's Geneva headquarters a day before the end of his tenure, Grandi said he had been inspired over the past decade by how regular people worldwide showed kindness and hospitality to people on the move.

"In spite of all the politics, in spite of the real challenges that these movements represent," he said, there is still a "deeply entrenched sense that if somebody flees from danger, one has the responsibility to help".

He also highlighted inspiring moments, including in 2021 when he witnessed former Colombian president Ivan Duque grant legal status to 1.7 million Venezuelans.

And more recently, "at the border between Lebanon and Syria and talking to people who had made the choice to go back just a few weeks after the fall of the Assad regime".

But the exhilaration felt in such moments had been matched by the "anger and profound sadness" felt in others.

"The worst is always when you witness an exodus that is caused by the most horrifying violations of human rights," he said, pointing to Myanmar and Sudan.

On Thursday, Grandi, 68, will be handing over the UNHCR reins to Barham Salih, 65, Iraq's president from 2018 to 2022, who was once a refugee himself.

"He will be an excellent leader for this organisation," Grandi said, adding though that he had warned Salih: "It will be tough".

- 'Very painful' -

Grandi acknowledged it was "very painful" to be leaving when his agency is going through a profound crisis.

The UNHCR, like many other UN agencies, has been clobbered by international aid cuts since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, and numerous other leading donors have also tightened their purse-strings.

The deep cuts have forced the agency to reduce aid and shutter services -- at a time when global displacement is surging.

In June, the UNHCR estimated that more than 117 million people have fled from their homes -- a figure that has nearly doubled in the past decade.

"We had to reduce the organisation by about a third," Grandi said, adding that "even more painful" was that the agency "had to reduce what we deliver to refugees, to displaced people, to stateless people around the world significantly".

Washington, traditionally the UN's biggest donor, has branded the United Nations bloated and inefficient, and on Monday warned its agencies to "adapt, shrink or die".

Grandi said reforms could be beneficial but fears that the current "criticism of multilateralism and the UN focuses on the wrong target".

"States need institutions that help them work together," he said, warning that the very concept of international cooperation appeared to be evaporating.

"What worries me most is this 'my country first' rhetoric," he said, stressing: "It's not just Washington -- it's global".

"When that slogan is applied to international challenges, it is weak."

Grandi insisted that "no country can do any of this alone, not even the United States".

"The challenges will hit us all, including those countries first... We need to work together."

C.Diaz--SFF