Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Friday met with the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at UNHCR, Gillian Triggs.
Grlić Radman said that Croatia and UNHCR had been cooperating to mutual benefit since 1991 and that that cooperation was only growing stronger. “Along with the pandemic, Croatia will also remember 2020 for the devastating earthquakes in Zagreb and Petrinja, which claimed lives and caused enormous damage. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi was among the first to offer assistance to Croatia,” the minister underscored.
“Our experience during and after the Homeland War as well as good practice amid the current migrant crisis have shown that we are not running away from those who need our help and protection. Croatia has been building its system of refugee and asylum seeker reception and protection since the 1990s, when we received more than a million refugees and displaced persons,” he said, underlining that Croatia was always willing to help the most vulnerable groups through development aid.
Grlić Radman added that Croatia’s commitment to the protection of migrant and refugee rights was shown in the support and implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, as well as in the participation in numerous international refugee assistance projects.