Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency, on Monday urged countries to drop measures to block refugees and migrants at their borders, saying they are ineffective and sometimes unlawful.

Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Mr Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are displaced worldwide.

“You might then ask: what can be done? For a start, do not focus only on your borders,” he said, urging leaders instead to look at the reasons people are fleeing their homes.

The Bajau Laut community has lived in the sea for centuries but is seen as migrants in the eyes of authorities and has been left homeless.

“We must seek to address the root causes of displacement and work toward solutions,” he said.

“I beg you all that we continue to work together and with humility to seize every opportunity to find solutions for refugees.”

Without naming countries, he said initiatives to outsource, externalise or even suspend asylum schemes were in breach of international law.

He also offered countries help in finding fair, fast and lawful asylum schemes.

Mr Grandi called for a drastic increase in support for refugees fleeing Sudan’s civil war, saying the lack of resources was already driving them across the Mediterranean Sea and even across the Channel to Britain.

“In this lethal equation, something has got to give. Otherwise, nobody should be surprised if displacement keeps growing, in numbers but also in geographic spread,” he said.

The UNHCR said it works to ensure that every human being who has fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge.

The agency said its work is under intense pressure, with displaced people increasing yearly for the past 12 years.

(Reuters/NAN)