New York: Senior diplomats and UN officials during a highly appreciated Pakistan-sponsored panel discussion on the plight of refugees and migrants called for addressing the root causes of the massive human movements – conflicts, persecution and poverty – in a bid to end this grave humanitarian crisis.
“Pakistan took the initiative to convene this panel because the world is confronted with a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions a global wave of displacement and forced migrations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in East Asia and elsewhere,” Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the delegates in a full-to-the-capacity conference room at the United Nations.
“Unless addressed effectively, this multiple crisis could produce grave consequences for world order and security,” said Dr Maleeha, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN who presided over the panel discussion. Mogens Lykketoft, Denmark’s former parliament speaker who was recently elected president of the UN General’s Assembly’s 70th session was among others who attended the event.
Under Secretary General for Communication and Public Information Christina Gallach was also present, besides ambassadors and representatives of a number of countries as well senior UN officials. Most speakers thanked Ambassador Maleeha for the well-thought-out move to focus international attention on refugees and migrants – a subject of critical importance to the international community.
– World’s second largest refugee-hosting country –
They evinced keen interest in the debate and called for cooperation among governments in devising a comprehensive plan to end the extraordinary human suffering in several parts of the world. Pakistan also came in for praise from all the speakers for hosting millions of Afghans refugees, after Dr Maleeha told the gathering that her country remains the world’s second largest refugee-hosting country.
“We never tried to turn any back. Nor did we erect barriers or walls but embraced them as part of our humanitarian duty,” she said. While dealing with the recent crises, Ambassador Maleeha did not lose sight of the plight of Palestinian refugees as she called for a just and equitable settlement of this decades-old problem.
An overview of the critical situation resulting from flows of refugees and migrants was given by Anne Christine Eriksson, acting director of UNHCR, New York, and by Ashraf El-Nour, permanent observer of the International Migration Organisation (IMO) to the UN, with both emphasising that the resources available to them were limited while the challenges were unprecedented.
– Hosting millions of Afghan refugees –
“Solutions are few and the situation is dire,” Eriksson said, as she spoke of enormous strain on the host countries. The UNHCR official especially praised for its generosity in hosting millions of Afghan refugees. Afghanistan’s Ambassador Zahir Tanin acknowledged brother Pakistan’s help to Afghan refugees and told the meeting that 5.8 million had returned to their homeland – 4.5 million assisted by UNHCR. He emphasised the need for gradual return of the Afghan refugees so that his government could settle them in new facilities.
Turkey’s deputy ambassador said that his country and Pakistan were facing identical problems, hosting big refugee populations. He called for addressing underlying causes of conflicts so as to resolve the problem of refugee flows. Ambassador Peter EWilson, the British deputy permanent representative, said the international community not to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem, as there were solutions.
One solution, he proposed was to make direct payment to refugees instead through middle men in order to cut overhead expenditures and make more money available to the affected people. Ambassador Richard Erdman, the US deputy representative, said that the US had over the years contributed 60 billion dollars to ease the situation.
Palestine’s permanent observer to UN Riad Mansour thanked Ambassador Maleeha for organising the event at which he focused on the plight of five million Palestinian refugees spread around the world. He especially called on donors to contribute to UNRWA, the UN agency taking care of Palestinian refugees, as it was facing a funding shortfall.
“If contributions did not come on time, tens of thousands of Palestinian students would not be able to go to their schools,” he said. Others diplomats who took parts were from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Denmark.
