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UNHCR - Global Refugee Forum - Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General
At a three-day global forum aimed at transforming the way the world responds to refugee situations, UN Secretary General António Guterres took the stage in Geneva, Switzerland, today to underscore the importance of protecting refugees, respecting their rights, and addressing the causes of human displacement.
“Now more than ever, we need international cooperation and practical,
effective responses. We need better answers for those who flee, and better help for communities and countries that receive and host them.” the UN Secretary-General said.
The world has experience what experts are calling “a decade of displacement”, during which refugee numbers have surged. More than 70 million people are forcibly displaced – double the level of 20 years ago, and 2.3 million more than just one year ago. More than 25 million of them are refugees, having fled across international borders and unable to return to their homes.
In reference to the main international agreements that have for decades underpinned assistance to refugees the Secretary-General said that there is a need today to “re-establish the integrity of the international refugee protection regime,” based on the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol.
“Indeed, at a time when the right to asylum is under assault, when so many
Borders and doors are being closed to refugees, when even child refugees can be divided from their families, we need to reaffirm the human rights of refugees,” Mr. Guterres said.
The first-ever Global Refugee Forum is bringing together refugees, heads of state and government, UN leaders, international institutions, development organizations, business leaders and civil society representatives, among others, at the United Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR is co-hosting the Forum together with Switzerland, and it is being co-convened by Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany, Pakistan, and Turkey. The aim of the Forum is to generate new approaches and long-term commitments from a variety of actors to help refugees and the communities in which they live. Worldwide, over 70 million people are displaced by war, conflict, and persecution.
In outlining possible solutions, Mr. Guterres said that the Global Compact on Refugees, a plan affirmed by the UN General Assembly in 2018, offers a path forward. The Global Compact on Refugees is a blueprint for governments, international organizations, and others to ensure that host communities get the support they need and that refugees can lead productive lives. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018.
“The Global Compact on Refugees gives us the blueprint,” the Secretary-General said, asking participants “to be bold and concrete in the pledges” they will make.
“This is a moment for ambition. It is a moment to jettison a model of support that too often left refugees for decades with their lives on hold: confined to camps, just scraping by, unable to flourish or contribute. It is a moment to build a more equitable response to refugee crises through a sharing of responsibility,’ Mr. Guterres said.
In his appeal for joint action, Mr. Guterres said that “the Global Compact on Refugees is our collective achievement and our collective responsibility. It speaks to the plight of millions of people. And it speaks to the heart of the mission of the United Nations.”
António Guterres served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees for a ten-year period (2005-2015) prior to his election as Secretary-General of the United Nations. He referred to the protections of refugees as one of the great issues of this era, or any era, and said that “as refugees go, so goes our world.”
"Throughout human history, people everywhere have provided shelter to
strangers seeking refuge – bound to them by a sense of duty and
humanity. Solidarity runs deep in the human character," the Secretary-General said.
"Today we must do all we can to enable that humanitarian spirit to prevail
over those who today seem so determined to extinguish it. We cannot afford to abandon refugees to hopelessness, nor their hosts to bear the responsibility alone,” he added.
Pledges are in support of refugees were expected today by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as by the private sector.
The Global Refugee Forum will continue through tomorrow, 18 December.
- Wide shot: exterior, flag alley, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
- Various arrivals (Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado Quesasda, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan)
- Medium shot, photo op: UN SG Antonio Guterres, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi
- Wide shot, Assembly Hall
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “Now more than ever, we need international cooperation and practical, effective responses and this is the reason, why we are here. We need better answers for those who flee, and better help for communities and countries that receive and host them.”
- Medium shot: SG at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “More fundamentally, we need to re-establish the integrity of the international refugee protection regime with the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol at its core”.
- Medium shot, SG at podium
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “Borders and doors are being closed to refugees, when even child refugees can be divided from their families, we need to reaffirm the human rights of refugees”.
- Wide shot: Audience at Assembly Hall
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “The Global Compact on Refugees gives us the blueprint”.
- Medium shot, SG at podium
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “I urge you to be bold and concrete in the pledges you make. This is a moment for ambition. It is a moment to jettison a model of support that too often left refugees for decades with their lives on hold: confined to camps, just scraping by, unable to flourish or contribute. It is a moment to build a more equitable response to refugee crises through a sharing of responsibility”.
- Wide shot: Audience in Assembly Hall
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “The Global Compact on Refugees is our collective achievement and our collective responsibility. It speaks to the plight of millions of people. And it speaks to the heart of the mission of the United Nations.”
- Wide shot, podium
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General: “Throughout human history, people everywhere have provided shelter to strangers seeking refuge – bound to them by a sense of duty and humanity. Solidarity runs deep in the human character. Today we must do all we can to enable that humanitarian spirit to prevail over those who today seem so determined to extinguish it. We cannot afford to abandon refugees to hopelessness, nor their hosts to bear the responsibility alone.”
- Wide shot, applause
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
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Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
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