Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Monday participated in a videoconference of the 71st session of the UNHCR Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme.
Addressing the event, Grlić Radman reflected on Croatia’s Council of the EU presidency, underscoring how the UNHCR’s approach of combining humanitarian aid, development aid and combating the root causes of migration was high on the agenda. In the context of Croatia’s commitment to ensuring regulated and safe migration, the minister welcomed the presentation of the European Commission’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, aimed at establishing a new and sustainable approach to migration at the European level.
As an expression of Croatia’s solidarity and actions on the global level, Grlić Radman underlined a development project for educating refugee women that was presented end-2019 at the Global Refugee Forum. With it, Croatia wants to contribute to the economic strengthening and access to the labour market for 110 Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The minister also emphasized that Croatia would take in 12 girls from the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, which had recently been razed by fire.
The host of the conference, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, stressed the additional challenges that forcibly displaced persons are facing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also presented the UNHCR’s response to support refugees, internally displaced persons and host countries during the crisis.