UN refugee chief says 114 million have fled homes because nations fail to tackle causes of conflict

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN refugee chief says the number of people fleeing their homes because of war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million and is climbing because nations have failed to tackle the causes and combatants are refusing to comply with international law. In a hard-hitting speech on Thursday, Filippo Grandi criticized the U.N. Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to use its “voice” to try to resolve conflicts from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar and many other places. He also accused unnamed countries of making “short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often founded on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law, but little muscle flexed from the council to actually uphold it.”