UNHCR chief Guterres stresses need to fight human trafficking, protect victims
News Stories, 26 August 2015
© UNHCR/A. Lechat
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres (right) greets French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (left).
GENEVA, Aug 26 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency head António Guterres on Wednesday reiterated the need to protect refugees fleeing to Europe by ensuring they are protected from human traffickers and that a properly functioning system is created to allow them to apply for asylum legally.
At a joint press conference with French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in Geneva, he said such a system would help replace the currently "dysfunctional" approach within the European Union to the handling of the influx of refugees to Europe.
"If we fight traffickers, protect victims and put in place a system to allow refugees to apply for asylum legally, we will succeed (in handling the crisis)," he said.
However, he added that the EU needed to "accelerate and intensify" efforts to resolve the crisis.
Cazeneuve briefed Guterres on important efforts and measures taken by the French and British governments regarding the migrants situation in Calais.
He stressed that France and Germany were committed to handling the current influx of refugees in a manner in keeping with their international obligations while fully respecting values such as responsibility and solidarity which lay at the heart of the creation of the European Union.
Guterres said funding for efforts to help Syrian refugees in the countries of first asylum, such as Lebanon and Turkey, was well below target, at some 41 per cent of current projected needs and called for an examination of new ways of financing the current situation as all humanitarian organisations were facing a shortfall.
By Jonathan Clayton, Geneva
over 4 million Syrians are now refugees
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Advocacy is a key element in UNHCR activities to protect people of concern.
Filippo Grandi, who took office on January 1 2016, is the UN refugee agency's 11th High Commissioner.
Drifting Towards Italy
Every year, Europe's favourite summer playground - the Mediterranean Sea - turns into a graveyard as hundreds of men, women and children drown in a desperate bid to reach European Union (EU) countries.
The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 290 kilometres off the coast of Libya. In 2006, some 18,000 people crossed this perilous stretch of sea - mostly on inflatable dinghies fitted with an outboard engine. Some were seeking employment, others wanted to reunite with family members and still others were fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence and had no choice but to leave through irregular routes in their search for safety.
Of those who made it to Lampedusa, some 6,000 claimed asylum. And nearly half of these were recognized as refugees or granted some form of protection by the Italian authorities.
In August 2007, the authorities in Lampedusa opened a new reception centre to ensure that people arriving by boat or rescued at sea are received in a dignified way and are provided with adequate accommodation and medical facilities.
Drifting Towards Italy
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie meets Iraqi refugees in Syria
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie returned to the Syrian capital Damascus on 2 October, 2009 to meet Iraqi refugees two years after her last visit. The award-winning American actress, accompanied by her partner Brad Pitt, took the opportunity to urge the international community not to forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who remain in exile despite a relative improvement in the security situation in their homeland. Jolie said most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services. They will need continued support from the international community, she said. The Goodwill Ambassador visited the homes of two vulnerable Iraqi families in the Jaramana district of southern Damascus. She was particularly moved during a meeting with a woman from a religious minority who told Jolie how she was physically abused and her son tortured after being abducted earlier this year in Iraq and held for days. They decided to flee to Syria, which has been a generous host to refugees.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie meets Iraqi refugees in Syria
George Dalaras
George Dalaras
Za'atari oldest man
At 113, Yousef is a very old man. Until conflict forced him to flee Syria two years ago, his life was spent peacefully with his farm, his shop, his three children and 160 descendants nearby. Now, he is perhaps the oldest resident of Za'aatri refugee camp in Jordan.
"He was sad when we told him we wanted to leave," says his daughter Nejmeh. "He tells me he wants to go back to Syria…He made me promise, if he dies, to bury him in Syria."
United Kingdom: High Commissioner calls for more funding for Syrian Refugees
Speaking at the London Syria Conference, the head of the UN Refugee Agency Filippo Grandi called for a significant increase in pledges to offer much-needed stability, opportunities and hope to Syrian refugees, who are becoming more vulnerable as a brutal war has raged for five years
Lebanon: Newborn Boy Spends First Winter In A Warehouse
Just ten days old, Syrian infant Mohammed is already experiencing the harshness of refugee life. Living with his family in a warehouse without furniture, natural light or permanent heat, he is already battling his first cold.
