unhcr's initial job was to help the millions of europeans uprooted from their homes during the war. in the decades since, our role has expanded. we are now leading the response to refugee situations around the globe. and we have operations in 138 countries. we provide many forms of lifesaving assistance, both directly, and through important partners like hias, who i was privileged to see last week in action in ecuador. and we work to achieve long-term solutions for displacement but our core mandate remains the protection of refugees. this role is enshrined in the convention itself, which prohibits governments from forcibly returning refugees to countries where they fear persecution. and central to that prohibition is a question of, who is a refugee? as mentioned by ambassador peters and representative holtzman, the convention defines a refugee as someone who is outside their country and cannot return due to a well-founded fear of persecution on those five grounds stated by mirta. they relate to the fund mental aspects of a person's identity, things that can not or should not have to

foreputy high commissioner unhcr, i am nervously proud of over 17,000 people that i work with day in and day out -- i am enormously proud. they're working in the field and often in remote and challenging locations. both the establishment of unhcr of the, and the adoption refugee convention the following year, where to sponsor the events of world war ii, as was discussed this morning, and our collective decision to learn from the toughest of lessons. job was to help the millions of europeans uprooted from their homes during the war. in the decades since, our role has expanded. we are now leading the response to rep. dean: situations around the globe. and we have operations in 138 countries. we provide many forms of lifesaving assistance, both directly, and through important who i wasike hias, privileged to see last year in action in ecuador. and we work to achieve long-term solutions for displacement but our core mandate remains the protection of refugees. this role is enshrined in the convention itself, which prohibits government from forcibly returning refugees to countries where th

the unhcr say this latest tragedy must be a turning point.roup of around 300 people left from our homes in 0livia we know a group of around 300 people left from our homes in olivia and we re left from our homes in olivia and were rescued by localfishermen and the guard who assisted as well. —— homs. survivors have returned to libya and we are providing them with assistance and they estimate another 150 people died at sea. this tragedy comes this week after we saw more than 50 people died in an airstrike a detention centre. this has to be a moment for a change in approach to the mediterranean situation. libya sees more search and rescue boats operating at sea and more done to release people from these detention centres. saving lives now needs to become the call priority. us media are reporting that the financierjeffrey epstein has been taken to hospital after being found semi—conscious in a prison cell in new york. epstein is accused of sexually assaulting underage girls. japanese car—maker nissan has announced that it is cutting over 12,000 j

increasing in support to unhcr to do more. >> i want to quickly, we are a refugee resettlement. want to point out the inconsistency when the president launched its immigration plan in january, he talked about in country processing and at the same time we're hearing we're going to sue -- out resettlement. again, we zero talked about the in aid. in there is an inconsistency the application and protection system that really does need to , be resolved. if you're not interested into refugee resettlement, which would be a shame and loss and abdication of u.s. leadership and the devastation i think for families around the world at a time of amazing displacement, then how exactly would a processing system work if you're not interested in refugee resettlement? >> good morning. one of the speakers are the groups that are missing are not the central americans but some points of the actual parties or policymakers. and they know the two of you that clearly must be involved in some lobbying, at least one of on the humanitarian side the , reasons all this is happening is because without legisl

the unhcr, the refugee organization for the united nations, said this rule proposed by the trump administration, quote, will endanger vulnerable people in need of international protection from violence or persecution. how did we reach this point? well, during world war ii, we made a fateful decision in the united states to turn away hundreds who were fleeing europe. many of them were people of the jewish religion who believed the holocaust, which hitler had initiated, would eventually reach their families and take their lives. 700 or 800 of them were on a ship that came to the united states and asked for refuge here, sigh almost here -- asylum here to escape the national sis. sadly, our government turned them away. they went back to europe. 200 died in the holocaust. and after that, after that horrible experience, we said we're going to do this differently from this point forward. since world war i, the united states has led the -- since world war ii, the united states has led the world in accepting refugees and asylees. we have tried to be a leader among developed countries in accepting refuge

it prosecute of you guys had conversations -- there is in-country in mexico, set up southern mexico unhcr protected zone where people could apply, mexico, canada, costa rica. have them apply and if you don't make it get deported from a shorter distance. there's a lot of ways of being creative. >> i agree with that. they should apply for refugees in mexico. >> make sure that's only one piece of the puzzle, right? an individual sincerely fleeing persecution, you might need to make it -- >> even if the third safe agreement has exceptions, exceptions if you have family, there might be cases in which, you know, quite clearly mexico cannot sustain the full challenge. that is why the third safe. we could not suddenly be responsible. if you have other regional partners that are involved in this, and somebody is truly fleeing their countries because of concern of their life, rerkd be able to find mexico or else for them. they might end up in miami. we should work on that. >> mark's point, i think, is that if mexicans don't approve taking in these refugees, that government and democratically electe

in the words of andrew gilmore, the assistant undersecretary for human rights at unhcr, what the world has seen in the past month and still now will go down in history as the greatest mass nonviolent movement of our generation. because of this nonviolent people's movement that refused to accept no for an answer, even in the face of brutal and barbaric violence from government-linked militia, the people of sudan have achieved a real opportunity for peace. just last week civilian leaders and the military council reached an agreement where they will share power to pursue a democratic future. in order for that peaceful transition to work, there must also be justice for those who were killed in the june 3 massacre through an independent investigation with real consequences for the perpetrators. along with true civilian oversight of security forces. i am heartbroken for every life that was lost. but i am also deeply hopeful because we have seen the shining light of courage, resilience and commitment to nonviolent resistance movements and to the possibilities they bring for lasting peace. the

the unhcr, the united nations refugee agency said the rule that the president promulgated willendanger people in need of international protection from violence or prosecution. now the president is continuing on his path of destruction. he is considering reducing the number of refugees the united states will admit in the year 2020 to zero. madam president, you have to go back in history to world war ii when the president of the united states, a member of my own political party, made a conscious decision to tell those jewish people coming from europe that they would not be allowed admittance into the united states to escape the nazi holocaust. the story of the u.s.s. st. louis is one people should read and consider the 800 passengers on that ship who were rejected by the administration as refugees sent back to europe. a fourth of them died in the holocaust. because of our feeling of shame after world war ii, the united states under presidents of both political parties said that we would try to set a standard for the world when it came to accepting refugees and we did. an average of almos

the unhcr say this latest tragedy must be a turning point.t a group of around 300 people left from al—khums in libya. their boat then came into distress and were rescued by localfishermen and then by the libyan coast guards, who assisted as well. 147 survivors have noew been returned to libya and we are providing them with aid and assistance, and they tell us that they estimate another 150 people died at sea. this tragedy comes just weeks after we saw mor than 50 people die in an airstrike on the tajoura detention centre in libya. so this has to be a moment now for a change in approach to the mediterranean situation. that sees more search and rescue boats operating at sea, and more done to release people from these detention centres. saving lives now hasa to become the core priority.