PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNHCR

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, Ruud Lubbers, the newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), met with correspondents to discuss his briefing of the Security Council on the situation in Guinea. 

In his opening statement, Mr. Lubbers said that he had briefed the Security Council on what the UNHCR was doing in the border region of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The UNHCR had recently decided to increase its presence there with 45 additional persons.  This was an emergency response team. They had been picked from all around the globe, and they had a lot of experience.  There was a need to assist the people that were already working in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

He said that many refugees had fled to the border region.  There were 375,000 Sierra Leonean people and 155,000 Liberian refugees in Guinea, which was being flooded by refugees and becoming unstable.  The refugee camps in Guinea were too close to the border, and the UNHCR was in the process of moving them somewhat north to the interior.

At the same time, he said, the situation was so fragile that many refugees had decided to stay in or return to Sierra Leone.  The inland road which leads back into Sierra Leone did not make for an easy journey, as it was not controlled by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).  The alternative was to travel along the coast of Guinea, through Conakry, and then try to enter the country from there.

During the Security Council briefing, Mr. Lubbers had also made a plea for assistance.  The UNCHR felt that the initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was key.  There was a critical need for support in terms of money and logistics for the initiative to be effective.  This was urgent, and if the support did not come, the situation would unravel.

He said that due to the small size of Guinea and the enormous number of refugees staying there, the refugees were beginning to be resented.  Because of the poor economic situation in Guinea, there was a practical need for humanitarian assistance which needed to be funded by the international community.  The UNCHR found itself responsible to vocalize this, but the work was not specific to the UNHCR.

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been doing a key job in that region, he said.  The work of the Mission was a signal to the people living in the area that the outside world was taking some responsibility.  If the international community could add to the work being done there, maybe the situation could begin to move in a positive direction.  

Asked by a correspondent if he intended to travel to Yugoslavia, Mr. Lubbers said that the number of places that the UNHCR had to go had increased. The number of refugees and internally displaced people had also increased.  He

was planning on spending part of his time visiting the areas in which there were

refugees, and had not excluded going to Yugoslavia.  He was also considering making his first trip to West Africa.  He said he hoped that the refugees in Pakistan and Yugoslavia would not interpret this as a lack of interest.

“What are the greatest challenges for you in this new job?” a correspondent asked.

Mr. Lubbers replied that one of the greatest challenges was the downside to globalization.  This downside was very evident in his job as High Commissioner for Refugees.  He felt that his responsibility was to solicit the cooperation and funds of the rich world.  Another challenge was to start talking about the protection of refugees in terms of prevention.

He said he felt a responsibility for helping the refugees to return home or to find a place to live somewhere else in the world.  It was for this reason that the UNHCR had to cooperate with other institutions, either within the United Nations system or non-governmental organizations.  His responsibility was to flag the seriousness of the problem, the misery of the people and the contrast in the wealth of nations.

“Did he think that there was a need for changes with the agency itself in order to help meet these challenges?” a correspondent asked.  Mr. Lubbers said that he did not think that there was an institutional problem.  The UNCHR was an institution of very motivated, well-functioning people.  The preparedness was there and the possibility was there, but the agency needed the means and the support.

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