In his address, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, outlines the importance of countries working together to resolve the refugee crisis and argue that refugees are a global concern and a shared responsibility. He urges states to get behind the new global compact on refugees and look forward to the first ever Global Refugee Forum, which will take place on 17 and 18 December 2019. The Global Refugee Forum is a unique occasion for States and others to come together and announce bold, new measures they will take to ease pressure on host countries, boost refugee self-reliance, and search for solutions.
About the Speaker:
Filippo Grandi has been engaged in international cooperation for 33 years, primarily with the United Nations and has served in field operations in many of the major refugee and humanitarian crises of the last three decades. In January 2016, Filippo Grandi was appointed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Prior to this, he served as Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestine refugees, having previously been its Deputy Commissioner-General since 2005. The High Commissioner also served as Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan and has worked with NGOs and UNHCR in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and at our Geneva headquarters.
