UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih address attendees at an event commemorating 75 years of the 1951 Refugee Convention in New York. © UNHCR/Vincent Alban
As Delivered
By Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in New York
Excellencies, colleagues, friends, partners,
This is truly an important discussion, and I thank you for the very important statements and commitments that have been made during this session. Seventy-five years on, this is a moment to reaffirm our commitment to our shared humanity, our legal responsibility, and also to a commitment to making the world better. My very humble hope at this moment is that we recognize the immense challenges before us, but that should not make us waver.
This is a moment to recommit to making sure that we deliver on our mandate. Providing protection to people forced to flee, providing help to people who need it in emergency situations, but also to really help with solutions that offer people a pathway to rebuilding their lives, to become self-reliant, and to make sure they can make contributions to the societies in which they live in.
Despite all the naysayers and all the polarized debates that we witness in our days, I do believe that there is so much good out there in our world. There is so much that we can rely on. We need to harness and make sure that we, as an international community, can deliver on this solemn promise that we made seventy-five years ago that people who are forced to flee cannot be left without protection.
I really thank you, Mr. President, Madam Prime Minister, all the other distinguished delegates and colleagues who have contributed to this debate. I want to assure you, on behalf of UNHCR, on behalf of the colleagues who are working in faraway lands, delivering on this mandate, that we are privileged to have been entrusted with this important, noble mission.
We need your support as we move forward, and my commitment to you is that we remain steadfast in delivering cost-effectively, efficiently, and in a way that really speaks to the core of our mandate—protection, assistance— but also dignity and solutions for people.
Thank you so very much.
