Speeches of António Guterres as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Today, through the unending flow of images and articles in media around the world, Iraq is probably the best-known conflict on the globe. But despite the global spotlight, Iraq may also be its least well known humanitarian crisis. Too little attention has been devoted to the displacement tragedy looming in the shadows.
Some of you may be asking “Why is the international refugee organization participating in this High-Level Dialogue?” It is true that refugees and migrants are different. Why then is UNHCR here, and why is it concerned with the issue of migration? Does UNHCR want to be a migration agency?
The United Republic of Tanzania has been an extremely generous country, hosting hundreds of thousands refugees for decades. I thank you for the opportunity to be here today. The Security Council and its resolutions are key instruments to address forced population displacement and its impact on peace and security. Seven years ago, as Prime Minister of Portugal, I worked closely with the Security Council in advocating for a strong international response to ensure respect for the rights of East Timorese. Those were the most compelling moments of my political life and your engagement on that occasion confirmed to me the power of this body as an agent for positive change.
Welcome, all of you, to this meeting of the Forum entirely devoted to Convention Plus, at the exact moment it is mainstreamed into the core of UNHCR’s activities. Let us recall that Convention Plus was launched by my predecessor to find ways to meet new challenges. Growing challenges to refugee protection, in fact, that were not explicitly addressed by the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol.
I would like to welcome you all to the fifty-sixth session of the Executive Committee, particularly new members Ghana and Romania. I would like to offer my congratulations to our Chairman, Ambassador Martabit of Chile, who replaced Ambassador Escudero Martinez of Ecuador in this role three months ago. I am extremely grateful and applaud his intelligence, enthusiasm and dedication. I thank both for their hard work.
