The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has warned that the number of people forced to flee their communities will increase this year due to wars and armed conflicts in different parts of the world. Last year, up to 114 million people have been forced from their homes.

Grandi slammed the UN Security Council, which he said “has failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security in places like Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo, Myanmar and many others.” In fact, most wars and armed conflicts in the world are instigated and perpetuated by the US and its imperialist allies, who also constitute the security council.

An increasing number of those involved in armed conflicts no longer respect the laws of war, Grandi said. Because of this, more civilians are being killed, there is increasing use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, as well as destruction of hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure. Forced eviction of people from their places is also against rules of war.

The forced displacement of an estimated 1.9 million civilians is most prominent in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which is supported and funded by the US. The US has repeatedly blocked petitions to the Security Council for a ceasefire in Gaza. Grandi describe events in Gaza atrocious and brutal, especially the recent Israeli bombardment of the “tent cities” in Rafah where nearly a million Palestinians displaced from the northern and central parts of Gaza temporarily stay.

He emphasized that this has further intensified the refugee crisis caused by the decades-long expulsion of Palestinians from their territory. As of January, there were 6 million registered Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. They add to the 900,000 Palestinians who were violently expelled from their country in 1948 in what is called “Al Nakba” to establish the “state of Israel.”

Grandi also mentioned the forced evacuation of 1.5 million people in Myanmar due to attacks and bombings by the military junta. The commission also oversees the welfare of refugees in Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, Syria and many other places.