5주차｜사회·노동·인권 (+ 난민·이주)_이채윤_Remarks by Mr. Barham Salih

[이채윤]

Remarks by Mr. Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Member State briefing, Geneva

Speaker: Mr. Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees

*이라크의 정치인이자 제12대 유엔난민기구(UNHCR) 최고대표

Date: 2026.06.29

Venue: Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

*팔레 데 나시옹(Palais des Nations)은 스위스 제네바 아리아나 공원에 위치한 유엔 유럽 본부이자 세계 외교의 중심지입니다.

https://www.unhcr.org/news/speeches-and-statements/remarks-mr-barham-salih-un-high-commissioner-refugees-member-state

<Glossary>

1	UNHCR	유엔난민기구 *United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
2	High Commissioner (for Refugees)	유엔난민기구 최고대표
3	World Refugee Day	세계 난민의 날 * 매년 6월 20일로, 분쟁, 박해, 재난 등을 피해 고향을 떠나야 했던 난민들의 고통을 되새기고, 이들의 권리와 용기를 기르기 위해 UN이 제정한 국제 기념일
4	the Makatet Roadmap	마카텟 로드맵 *난민을 인도적 지원에만 의존하게 두는 대신, 국가 시스템에 통합하여 자립할 수 있도록 지원하는 정부 주도의 난민 포용 종합 계획
5	Ura refugee settlement	우라 난민 정착촌(또는 캠프) * 수단 내전을 피해 피난 온 난민들을 수용하기위해 구축된 캠프 시설

<Script>

(748 words) *편집본

Good morning, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Before I begin, I would like to express my solidarity with the people of Venezuela following the recent earthquakes.

UNHCR is already on the ground, working alongside the authorities, humanitarian partners, and affected communities to assess needs and support the response.

We stand ready, as required, to provide life-saving protection and assistance.

When we met in February, in my first briefing to Member States as High Commissioner, I shared my initial assessment of the global displacement landscape, the challenges confronting UNHCR, and my early reflections on the direction I believed our organization needed to take.

Over the past five to six months, I have had the privilege of engaging with many of you, listening carefully to your perspectives and concerns.

I have travelled extensively to refugee-hosting countries and situations of return.

I have spent time with refugees, host communities, government leaders, humanitarian workers, development partners, regional organizations, and colleagues across our own organization.

Those conversations have reinforced my conviction that while the challenges before us remain immense, they are not insurmountable.

They have also reinforced something else.

The world is asking more of UNHCR than ever before.

Refugees are asking more of us.

Host countries are asking more of us.

Donors are expecting and asking more of us.

At a time of record displacement, constrained humanitarian resources, increasing political polarization, and growing pressure on asylum systems around the world, we cannot simply continue doing more of the same.

We must continue to uphold international protection with absolute determination.

We must continue to provide life-saving assistance wherever emergencies occur.

But we must also become much more effective at helping refugees rebuild their lives and reducing the number of people trapped in protracted displacement.

That remains the direction I set out in February.

Today, I would like to focus on how we are beginning to translate that direction into meaningful action.

First, I’d like to share reflections from my World Refugee Day mission.

I know many Member States have asked how these different processes relate to one another.

They are not separate initiatives.

They are complementary parts of a single effort to ensure that UNHCR remains fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world.

This year, World Refugee Day was particularly meaningful for me, as my first as High Commissioner for Refugees.

I chose to spend it in Ethiopia, a country that has demonstrated remarkable leadership over many years in providing protection to refugees despite facing profound economic, humanitarian and security challenges.

Ethiopia today hosts over 1.1 million refugees and asylum-seekers from neighboring countries, while also responding to internal displacement and managing significant development pressures.

Ethiopia is demonstrating what becomes possible when protection is matched with inclusion and opportunity, not only for refugees, but also for the communities that welcome them.

A defining moment of the visit was the launch of the Makatet Roadmap, a nationally led framework to include refugees in national systems and services, expanding access to documentation, education, health care, livelihoods, and local services while strengthening opportunities for host communities as well.

This is the kind of practical, government-led approach the international community should support.

On World Refugee Day, I travelled to Ura refugee settlement, close to the Sudanese border.

There, I saw Makatet already taking shape.

Ura is home to thousands of Sudanese refugees who have sought safety after fleeing the devastating conflict in Sudan.

Many arrived after horrific violence and unimaginable suffering.

Their immediate needs remain urgent: protection, safety, registration, shelter, health care, education and food.

These remain the foundations of our work, and our first responsibility will always be to provide life-saving assistance for people who need it.

But what impressed me in Ura was that emergency response is not stopping there.

Refugees and host communities are accessing shared schools and health services, with development investments being introduced from the earliest stages of displacement as a “solutions from the start” approach.

These conversations reinforced something I have repeatedly witnessed throughout my travels:

refugees are not defined by what they have fled; they are defined by what they continue to build.

As we speak about solutions, inclusion and self-reliance, we must recognize a simple reality:

people cannot build their futures if they cannot survive first.

Protection, emergency assistance and solutions are not sequential stages.

They are mutually reinforcing responsibilities that must advance together.

Humanitarian action saves lives.

Development expands opportunity.

But only peace can resolve displacement substantially and seriously.

Refugees themselves must remain at the heart of every solution.