5주차｜사회·노동·인권 (+ 난민·이주)_이정석_편집본_High Commissioner’s opening statement to the

[이정석]

Title	High Commissioner’s opening statement to the seventy-fifth plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme
Speaker	Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Date	OCT 14, 2024
Event	seventy-fifth plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme
Words	757
Link	High Commissioner’s opening statement to the seventy-fifth plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme | UNHCR

1	Lebanon	레바논
2	Syria	시리아
3	Ali and Dana	음차, 알리와 다나
4	UNRWA	The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, 유엔 팔레스타인 난민구호기구
5	Damascus	다마스쿠스, 시리아의 수도

Good morning.

This has been a year of extremes.

A year of contradictions.

A year of loss and of grief, without doubt, as we continue to witness conflict, violence and abuses that displace millions. Fed by the belief – no: the terrible lie – that the path to peace is found through war.

But also, a year with at least some moments of hope.

This summer, we had the privilege to applaud the best of the human spirit, embodied by the refugee athletes who competed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

And so, to open this session of the Executive Committee, allow me to share a few reflections as we take stock of the last twelve months. As we try to make sense of the present and look ahead to a future that seems more uncertain than ever.

Madam Chair,

Distinguished Delegates,

Colleagues and Friends,

Nowhere are that uncertainty, that anxiety more palpable at the moment than in Lebanon. I have just come back from a visit to the country, and to Syria. At the risk of sounding obvious, let me stress that the overwhelming message from the people I met – many displaced, and all impacted by war – is that they want peace. A ceasefire for Lebanon but also – as is desperately needed in Gaza – a ceasefire that is sustained by a meaningful peace process, difficult as it may be. This is the only way to break the cycle of violence, of hatred, and of misery. A ceasefire that would also allow the displaced of this conflict – in Lebanon and in Northern Israel – to return home. A ceasefire which would stem the tide to a major regional war with global implications.

You will have seen the images and heard the numbers; hundreds of thousands of displaced inside Lebanon, seeking reprieve from Israeli airstrikes. Once again, the distinction made between civilians and combatants has almost become meaningless. We are told that wars are becoming smarter – surely so in tactical ways, and in sparing military assets; but surely not so in avoiding indiscriminate civilian casualties and causing destruction and displacement. Patterns of conflict that we witness also in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, with the adherence to international humanitarian law reduced to the faintest of fig leaves as clinics and schools are destroyed along with thousands of lives.

Including, in the case of Lebanon, lives of UNHCR colleagues.

I want to honour the memory of our two colleagues, Ali and Dina (as well as her son Jad). And we think also of other organizations, especially UNRWA – where shockingly 226 colleagues have been killed. We cannot accept that the lives of humanitarians are dismissed as mere collateral damage, or worse, maligned as somehow culpable or complicit. If – in the year in which we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions – we do not restore the collective commitment that protecting civilians is a legal obligation, and uphold its related accountabilities, wars will grow even more murderous and devastating, adding significantly to forced displacement within and across borders.

And yet, even as the humanitarian community mourns, with many of our colleagues and their families themselves impacted, we continue to respond, to stay and deliver. As we always have. As it is our responsibility to do.

And so, we are in Lebanon, working with authorities and partners to meet the most urgent needs. And to respond to everyone’s plight without distinction, on an equal basis. Because airstrikes spare no one. Certainly not the Lebanese people, but also not Syrian refugees, many of whom have been hosted in Lebanon for years, and who find themselves uprooted again. You can appreciate the complexity of the situation, the evident paradox.

Uncertainty clouds the lives of ordinary civilians in Lebanon today. Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide to move on to other countries. Many have already decided to cross the Syrian border and Syria has opened the doors to all those fleeing Lebanon.

Both Lebanese refugees and Syrian returnees in Syria need immediate relief assistance – the funding appeal launched in Damascus last week, like the one issued for Lebanon a few days earlier, require urgent contributions. The situation – with Syrians representing 70 per cent of the 276,000 new arrivals – requires also that we move more decisively along the two tracks I have often mentioned in the past.

First, we will continue to work and advocate with the Government of Syria to ensure the safety and security of all those arriving, including Syrians, especially now that many have returned.