Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
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.
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Edited News | WFP , OCHA
UN urges opening of all Gaza crossings to deliver three-month food supply
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Edited News | UNDP , UNICEF , OCHA , ICRC
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Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to name Maria Machado as this year’s laureate, in recognition of her work promoting the Venezuelan people’s democratic hopes.
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Edited News | UNRWA , UNICEF , WHO
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Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
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Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
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Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.
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Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , ICRC
Quadcopter victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital
UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday delivered his oral update to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the human rights situation in Haiti.
The High Commissioner welcomed Wednesday’s decision of the UN Security Council to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission by transitioning to the Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, stating it is a strong signal of international support for the Haitian people.
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Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
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Edited News | WHO
The ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza City continues to overwhelm the war-torn enclave’s medical professionals, with four more hospitals forced to shut down this month alone, the UN World Health Organization said on Friday.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A UN Human Rights report released today details the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained since Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine in 2022.