UN Secretary-General says a multitude of global crises has caused a record level of displacement and calls on the international community to respond
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for more to be done to tackle a global level of forced displacement not seen since World War II.
Ban Ki-moon was speaking at the annual meeting of the UNHCR's governing Executive Committee in Geneva.
He told the meeting: "Never before in United Nations history have we had so many refugees, displaced people and asylum-seekers. Never before has the United Nations been asked to reach so many with emergency food assistance and other life-saving support."
"Some of the challenges are on the front pages. Others are far from the headlines … In Iraq and Syria, we see new depths of barbarity with each passing day, and devastating spillover effects across the region."
Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to engage in "unprecedented cooperation" as it faces a multitude of global crises, spanning from Iraq and Syria to the Central African Republic and Horn of Africa.
"The world must do more to prevent forced displacement, address its root causes, and support solutions for those affected by it. This requires greater resources and more political leadership. It also requires unprecedented cooperation by the international community," he said.
The UN Secretary-General urged "an earlier and greater focus" on human rights for the millions of refugees displaced by the conflicts.
"Human rights should be put at the centre and the front when dealing with refugees and asylum seekers," Ban said.
"We must reaffirm the universality of humanitarian principles which, when respected, protect both the victims and those who came to their rescue," he added. "We simply cannot accept the erosion of these fundamental principles – anywhere, at any time, for any reason."
Ban Ki-moon also spoke of his own experience as a refugee during the Korean War. "One of my earliest memories is fleeing with my family into the hills surrounding my village … Where I had played – where I had gone to school – where I had lived with my family – all of it was in flames. Our lives went up in smoke," he recalled.
Earlier, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres warned that the global humanitarian system has become dangerously overstretched by record levels of displacement caused by a myriad of crises in the Middle East and Africa and continuing unresolved conflicts in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and elsewhere.
In June, the UNHCR said that worldwide forced displacement numbers had reached 51.2 million – a level not previously seen in the post-World War II era.