On September 23, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) marked 75 years since the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the cornerstone of international protection for people forced to flee. Given that we live in a time of record global displacement, the event was less a celebration than a call to recommit to the principles of the Convention.
The Convention is a promise that people forced to flee can seek and find protection. It lets them pursue education, earn a living and live with dignity. Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the moral duty to protect those in flight appears in sacred texts and religious teachings worldwide. He said the Convention and its 1971 Protocol have meant life or death for millions. He rejected policies that penalize people seeking safety and urged diplomacy over division. Austria’s President, Alexander Van der Bellen, himself the child of refugees, said that offering a home is not charity but a right.
Speakers agreed that protection is essential but not enough. UNHCR’s Baram Salay stressed that most refugees want to return home safely. Until they can, they deserve meaningful lives where they are, with host communities supported and the asylum system kept accessible and safe from abuse. Success, Salay said, should be measured by how many people no longer need assistance. The World Bank’s Usman Dionne added that including refugees in national schools, health systems and economies is both right and smart. The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judith Suminwa Tuluka, warned that crises such as Ebola deepen in refugee camps and called for peace and development to work together.
Mary Meagher, who leads a refugee-led organization, spoke from lived experience. She urged leaders to seek refugees’ advice, place them in decision-making roles and fund their work. With 40% of people on the move being children, the message was clear: keep the Convention alive, and choose humanity over indifference.
Auteur: Sarah Rudolph, CJ
