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UN refugee chief warns of need for action not just words
The UN`s top refugee official has warned countries they had to turn their verbal backing for a key international treaty on protecting refugees into action.
The UN's top refugee official has warned countries they had to turn their verbal backing for a key international treaty on protecting refugees into action.
As more than 150 countries met to reaffirm their commitment to the 1951 refugee convention at a two-day conference in Geneva on Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said that its implementation was still a problem.
The 143 countries to have ratified the 1951 convention are confirming their support for it by committing themselves to providing better refugee protection through regional and international strategies. A failure to share the burden of refugees has been repeatedly hightlighted by Lubbers for hindering progress in dealing with the issue. But he said that the fear and mistrust in many countries about the impact of accepting refugees was also still a problem.
“After September 11 the test is even more difficult because it is so easy to say we're living in a dangerous world and then start with even stricter policies in judging other people,” Lubbers told reporters. The UN refugee chief also called on rich western countries to accept more refugees as a way of dealing with problems posed by their increasingly aging populations.
“All these countries are much more than in the past aging fast, so there could be an atmosphere of saying let's accept a number of people to come in terms of managed migration,” Lubbers said. Bureau Report
The 143 countries to have ratified the 1951 convention are confirming their support for it by committing themselves to providing better refugee protection through regional and international strategies. A failure to share the burden of refugees has been repeatedly hightlighted by Lubbers for hindering progress in dealing with the issue. But he said that the fear and mistrust in many countries about the impact of accepting refugees was also still a problem.
“After September 11 the test is even more difficult because it is so easy to say we're living in a dangerous world and then start with even stricter policies in judging other people,” Lubbers told reporters. The UN refugee chief also called on rich western countries to accept more refugees as a way of dealing with problems posed by their increasingly aging populations.
“All these countries are much more than in the past aging fast, so there could be an atmosphere of saying let's accept a number of people to come in terms of managed migration,” Lubbers said. Bureau Report