GENEVA — The head of the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday he understands that the Biden administration enacted new restrictions on asylum-seekers entering the United States, but cautioned that some aspects of the executive order may violate refugee protection required under international law.
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, spoke to The Associated Press as his agency issued its annual ''Global Trends'' report for 2023.
The UNHCR report found that the cumulative number of people who have been subjected to forced displacement rose to 120 million last year — 6 million more than in the year before. The refugee agency noted that the total count was roughly equivalent to the entire population of Japan.
The report found that three-fourths of the people who were forcibly displaced — including both refugees driven abroad and people displaced inside their own countries — lived in poor or middle-income countries. Grandi insisted this was a sign of how migrant and refugee flows were not just an issue for the rich world.
He lamented that crises in Africa have been largely overlooked, particularly in Sudan, where some 10.8 million were displaced at the end of last year, after conflict erupted between forces loyal to rival generals in April 2023.
Grandi said the world's focus on crises faced by refugees and internally displaced people has largely centered on the Palestinian territory of Gaza — where a devastating and deadly war erupted in October last year — and Ukraine, which has been saddled by Russia's invasion since February 2022.
He lamented how the world has largely overlooked the refugee crisis spawned by the war in Sudan.
The United States, meanwhile, has faced the ''most complex challenge'' when it comes to refugees of any country in the developed world, Grandi said — alluding to an influx across the U.S.-Mexican border.
