Asharq Al-Awsat has asked Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths about the three biggest threats the world’s poorest collectively face. His answer was: “Climate, conflict and cost-of-living. And they’re all connected.”
When asked about double standards in refugee treatment, the UN official told the newspaper in an interview conducted via email that “the United Nations welcomed the swift and generous European response to the plight of Ukrainian refugees. This is how it should be for all refugees, all of whom need access to asylum, without discrimination. As UNHCR has repeatedly stressed, respecting refugee rights is a legal and moral obligation, and it should never be contingent on nationality.”
