Global 'fragmentation' fueling world's crises: UN

GENEVA

The outgoing United Nations refugee chief fears an increasingly fragmented world is fueling global conflicts and crises, and inflaming hostility towards people desperately fleeing for safety.

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 U.N. 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."

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."

Today, 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 organization," Grandi said, adding though that he had warned Salih: ‘It will be tough.’"