UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the system which supports individuals seeking safety from war and persecution is being threatened by a hostile political environment.
He made the remark in a speech at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva against the backdrop of the first anniversary of the United Nation’s global refugee pact.
At the high-level meeting, Guterres said, “at a time when the right of asylum is under attack, when so many doors are closed to refugees, we must reaffirm their human rights.
“It is time to give up a model of support that too often meant putting the lives of refugees on hold for decades.
“Those refugees are confined to camps, living day by day, without being able to flourish or make a contribution to society.’’
More than 1,000 government and business delegates convened in the Swiss city to discuss the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees.
It was adopted by UN members in 2018 to ease the burden on host countries, to boost refugees’ self-reliance, and to create legal migration paths.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, an estimated 71 million people around the world have been uprooted, with 25 million of them living as refugees outside their country.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for a fairer distribution of refugees among nations in Geneva.
“Among the countries of this world, only 20 per cent are willing at all to take in refugees,’’ he told German broadcaster ZDF.
He noted that nine of the 10 countries that took in the most refugees were low or middle-income nations.
Maas said that industrialised countries needed to do more as “we need international scholarship programmes that give refugees a chance to apply their skills.
He told the German RND media group that Germany had taken on far more responsibility than others recently.
German Development Minister Gerd Mueller said that refugees could be supported more effectively in their host and origin countries.
“That is why it is a scandal that the UN Refugee Agency has in 2019 only received just over half of the funds it needs for its work.’’
