UNITED NATIONS, United States, May 31, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations refugee chief criticized the Security Council on Thursday over the growing number of people displaced by war and persecution, saying 114 million people had fled their homes worldwide.

   "Next month, we will update that figure. It will be higher," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the Security Council, which he lamented for its inaction since he gave his last toll in October.

   "Seven months have passed but the situation has not changed -- if at all, it has grown worse," Grandi said, citing increased violations of international law and the pressures on humanitarian workers.

   Grandi pointed to the tens of thousands killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and "so many other places."

   Criticizing the Security Council -- long divided by tensions among its veto-wielding permanent members -- he said its "cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world."

   Grandi added that it is "not too late to try and save countless millions more from the scourge of war."