Statement at the UNHCR high level meeting

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Dear Madam Chair Ambassador Olmos, Excellencies, High Commissioner Guterres, dear friends,

Let me first thank you, Antonio, for gathering us here for this meeting. This is a uniquely important moment. We should really seize this opportunity. In light of all the refugees in Syria and its neighbouring countries, we must all do better to alleviate the situation, and now we should try to do so, drawing inspiration from the new momentum created last week in New York.

I just arrived here from New York and the General Assembly high-level week, and it was quite remarkable to see that, from a starting point of no cooperation whatsoever, we are now seeing a Security Council that has, at least, been able to agree on how to deal with the issue of Syria’s chemical weapons. Last week’s development also suggests that there may be a way to achieve a political solution via a Geneva II conference.

The momentum created in New York should be utilised to its full potential. Work is under way to prepare a strong statement by the Security Council. I hope this will come in the form of a resolution underlining the importance of the humanitarian dimension, reiterating the need to respect international humanitarian law, and calling on all parties to provide access to all areas under all circumstances. That means both across borders and across dividing lines. The resolution should also recognise the plight of all Syria’s neighbouring countries and urge the international community to stand by them and to relieve them of some of the burden that they have been forced to shoulder.

But although there is a glimmer of hope, make no mistake: the war is continuing. It may even be stepped up in the weeks and months ahead. We know from experience that when there is talk of a political solution, warring factions will try to position themselves as well as they can, in order to improve their position before a possible ceasefire and negotiations on a political solution materialise.

What is absolutely certain is that the humanitarian crisis will continue for a long time. Even if the war ended tomorrow, we would continue to face severe challenges in the field for years to come.

Norway has contributed a total of USD140 million to alleviating the humanitarian situation. Roughly half of this has been allocated to the regional response plan.

We have focused particularly on Lebanon, but we are also playing an active role in other neighbouring countries.

I would like to underline the plight of the children. Many of Syria’s youngest children have never known any other existence than that of a refugee, and there are significant problems relating to the provision of adequate education. We need to focus more on this dimension of the crisis, or we will end up with a “lost generation”.

Let me also draw attention to the situation for women and girl refugees. Many of them are subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse. Prostitution and child marriages are on the rise. These are fundamental civilian protection issues that must be urgently addressed, just as much as shelter and food aid.

I would like to commend the neighbouring countries, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt for taking on such a big burden, under dire circumstances, and for keeping their borders open. This must continue. But all of us gathered here would like to say this: We see you, we see what you are doing, and we want to support you and try to ease your burden. We will seek to support you in your own countries, but also by trying to share the burden by resettling some of the refugees.

I am happy to announce that Norway has decided to increase its resettlement quota, to receive an additional 1000 refugees. That almost doubles our total UNHCR resettlement quota for this year. I know that this is a small number compared to the total numbers of refugees involved, but it is meant as a sign of solidarity to the neighbouring countries and it is in line with what both they and the UNHCR have appealed for. I hope this decision can inspire other countries to do the same.

To conclude, I would once again like to commend the UNHCR for making this meeting possible. I particularly welcome the fact that the leaders of the key development organisations are here. It is crucially important that we all understand that the situation in Syria has already moved way beyond just a humanitarian crisis. We are already deep into a long-term development crisis. For this reason, it is essential that the development partners play their role.

I hope that we will be able to think strategically. Sometimes, in situations like this, we start off by doing something we may refer to as coordination, but often, it turns out to be just a matter of “I tell you what I do and you tell me what you do, and then we agree that we all had a good meeting”. To address a crisis of the magnitude we are seeing in Syria, we need to go beyond that. Today we need to take a strategic focus and actually decide what is most important. We must be realistic and realise that we will not be able to achieve everything, anyway. That is why we need to focus strategically on what is most important right now. This requires a concerted approach that includes all the UN agencies and other relevant agencies, us, the donor countries, and, of course, the neighbouring countries themselves.

Madam Chair,

In my view, this is crucial. We have no time to lose. We must build on the current momentum. We must put pressure on everyone we know in the Security Council to give us all the support they can. We must use the current momentum to expand and intensify the humanitarian effort, while making it more strategically focused.

Thank you.