UNHCR official pledges support for Palestine humanitarian cause

The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kelly T Clements has pledged support for the Palestine humanitarian efforts.She was attending a discussion on "Setting the Stage for the Global Refugee Forum: From Challenges to Opportunities” yesterday at Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies."We will do what we can do to support the Palestine humanitarian efforts. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is operating in Gaza. We stand completely behind the statement of UNRWA Emergency Relief Coordinator,” Clements said noting that UNHCR has contributed to support the relief activities carried by the Egyptian Red Crescent."We need a humanitarian ceasefire and we need the suffering to be stopped,” she said while underscoring the need for massive efforts and agendas to ensure the welfare of refugees and urged better refugee response and advocacy."There is a need for strong international solidarity for the refugee cause,” the UN official asserted. She pointed out the necessity of more innovative ways and measures to ensure the protection of the refugees."There should be ways to support the refugees effectively while making them able to provide themselves livelihoods. So we have to be thinking about responses in new situations of displacement as not short-term relief only. We have to be thinking about different systems and different ways to be able to protect and aid with a longer-term perspective from the beginning."There are glimmers of hope when it comes to the refugee humanitarian cause. The condition of refugees is improved through strengthening education, climate, health and energy systems and implementing humanitarian mechanisms."But Clements stated that the number of refugees is going up. "There are 110mn refugees across the world out of which 62mn are internally displaced people. Shedding light on the current grim scenario in the region where conflicts and unrest continue to prevail in various countries, the UN official observed that "This region is fragile”.The Global Refugee Forum is an opportunity to review the measures and plan the steps, Clements added. Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies director Dr Ghassan Elkahlout was present.