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This, I believe, should be
Just as it has been a principal
a basis that is truly universal and shared. a principal objective of this session. objective of mine since assuming office.
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A
It is to this end that I have travelled extensively in Africa and Asia, where serious and growing problems of great complexity confront us. It is to the same end that I have travelled to many of the countries that have, most generously; assisted us with financial means and resettlement opportunities. Yet I should underline that it would be wrong to view our problems as being neatly divisible, between those faced by countries of first asylum, on the one hand, and those faced by countries that provide contributions and resettle- ment opportunities, on the other hand.
There is no such clear distinction.
Father. history reminds us of the
inter-relationship of the one with the other. Our shared humanity and
experience require us now to recognize our common predicament and responsibility and jointly to find humanitarian answers for those who have been the victims of events in which unfortunately, many of our countries. have been participants.
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More fundamentally, however, the growing and varied refugee situation compels me to observe that, in many regions of the world, real peace remains elusive. It is not for this Office to venture political observations, but I must in honesty say to this Committee that our work grows no easier in present circumstances. To have to offer new and ingenious ideas, time and again, to cope with the refugee problem, is not the best comment on the capacity of nations to deal sericusly with issues that cause the refugee problem.
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This being said, I here must note, and pay sincere tribute to my
illustrious predecessors, for having built UNHCR into an instrument of inter- national humanitarian action that is widely respected for its record of integrity and effectiveness.
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