The President is in New York where she will attend the UN General Assembly.
On the eve of the 71th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, a summit on large-scale movements of refugees and migrants was held. Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović co-chaired the roundtable “Global compact for responsibility-sharing for refugees; respect for international law”, which was held as part of the summit, reports Index.hr on September 20, 2016.
The President said that, despite progress made by Croatia, the EU and partners since last fall in developing strategies and solutions to control migrant crisis, the main problem had still not been solved. She added that she considered the summit to be timely and significant. The President stated that vast movements of people were a worldwide phenomenon and that no member state could escape it. “This is not just a ‘European problem’ or a problem that is happening somewhere else, far out of sight”, said the President, adding that so far people should had realized that there are no real borders in the world as far as humanitarian and security issues are concerned.
Furthermore, she noted that the Refugee Convention of 1951 and its Protocol should be supplemented with new important elements in the light of the current facts and challenges, and stressed importance of adhering to the global commitments that countries of the world had accepted.
President Grabar-Kitarović emphasized the importance of preventing and ending conflicts, violence and persecution, and stressed that the implementation of Agenda 2030 would have a positive effect on many of the causes of migration. Conflicts are just some of these causes, but perhaps they are the only causes which the world community can react to in a timely manner to prevent and finally end them. The President added that other reasons, including poverty, lack of opportunities, climate change and failed states were the issues which required a longer term solutions.
Consistent application of legal migration policies, preventing the loss of life, and coordination and cooperation among all countries along migration routes is something that everybody should focus on in order to strengthen the safe, regular and orderly management of migrations, said the President. “We must intensify global efforts aimed at combating organized crime networks which smuggle people”, concluded the President.
