António Guterres: Refugees have the right to be protected
António Guterres: Mültecilerin de korunma hakkı var
António Guterres is at the forefront of advocating for refugee rights around the world. Full bio
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thank you for coming to TED.
and migrants arrived in Europe
but also from Afghanistan
of two different kinds:
and the long-term perspective.
spiked so fast in the last six months?
what triggered this huge increase
into Europe from Africa, from Asia,
we had this massive increase
in relation to Syrians,
clear for people.
to go back home,
at the end of the tunnel.
countries have been deteriorating.
are living very badly.
what they have suffered,
very dramatic conditions.
was when all of a sudden,
for lack of resources,
to the Syrian refugees.
on international support,
is abandoning us."
in large numbers
enough to do it,
many people is it's not only sudden,
happening for five years.
and villages and towns around Syria.
about the situation
of a breakdown of Libya, for example,
you don't want to recognize the reality.
the capacity to make them.
the spike occurred,
a mechanism to manage the situation.
is 550 million people,
per every 2,000 Europeans.
per three Lebanese.
of course, but it's managing.
that could have been managed
important thing,
addressing the root causes,
together in solidarity
reception capacity of entry points?
points need to be massively supported,
with security checks
into all European countries,
of each country.
the relocation program
always too little too late,
to receive four thousand.
if it is managed,
the pressure is at the point of entry,
in this chaotic way through the Balkans,
Sweden, basically, and Austria.
in the end, receiving the refugees.
without doing much.
three questions,
in Europe right now,
is not much, but realistically,
that has no answer,
the right to be protected.
as international law,
"I take 10,000 and that's finished."
I remember one minister saying,
up to 100,000 people."
three-hundred thousand
if you count all refugees.
how many we can take.
how we can we organize ourselves
responsibilities?
because there is no solidarity
there are many other areas.
in which we need more Europe
in European institutions,
to convince the public
to solve these problems.
shifts, particularly domestically.
and over in many countries:
and in Switzerland and elsewhere,
because of the numbers,
in absolute numbers.
opening the news every single day,
were of hundreds
is taking care of it --
kind of management.
"They are coming to my village."
that Europe was being invaded
and everything will --
had been properly managed,
screened at point of entry,
to different European countries,
a lot of people scared,
to do the job properly.
management of the situation
of people all over Europe,
the percentage that I mentioned:
properly managed
and of course if you have a village --
Lebanon has been living with that.
to happen in Europe,
more refugees than inhabitants.
to do the job properly,
to receive people
were forced to do in the past.
situation not only at Europe --
so, not only at Europe,
a long list of countries
in the other part --
who's doing the right thing?
of the refugees in the world
countries like Ethiopia --
more than 600,000 refugees.
that every refugee should be received.
welcoming of refugees coming,
for borders to be open.
with the Syrian situation,
into also a major security crisis,
were open for, at the time,
the trend in the developing world
is for these questions to become
in the public opinion,
protections on one side
misinterpreted -- on the other side.
of funding and the vouchers
of the organizations
and more support,
close to the levels of last year.
to address the needs of the people
of the criteria, the objectives,
cooperation that is required.
are middle-income countries.
or grants from the World Bank.
a global public good.
of stability in the region,
of our collective security.
are not a first priority
in very dramatic circumstances
themselves are suffering,
at today's situation
their poor groups of the population,
because of the crisis they are facing.
organizations, the European Union?
cooperation is essential.
cooperation is essential.
institutions should have flexibility
more massively
and to understand that today,
at a certain moment,
to make a distinction
and development aid
about children in school,
that is overcrowded.
that require a long-term perspective,
humanitarian aid perspective.
by the current front-runner
for US President, Donald Trump.
and complete shutdown
can figure out what's going on."
around the world
saying, for instance,
should not be received.
that by doing or saying this,
the security of their countries.
to Muslim refugees,"
is the best possible help
of terrorist organizations.
by all the Muslims in your own country,
for the recruitment
through technology,
and all those other groups
"You are right, we are against you."
in societies that are all multiethnic,
in which, really,
of these terrorist organizations
people for terror acts
of sentences are expressed.
and the reactions to them
for many people the first reaction
attacks is: close all borders --
problem in Europe is largely homegrown.
of European fighters in Syria and in Iraq,
by just not allowing Syrians to come in.
by the person who has blown --
of Daesh is against refugees,
that should be with the caliphate
strategy to make Europe react,
towards Muslims inside Europe,
it was not the refugee movement
is today a homegrown movement
that we are facing,
to prove these groups wrong,
from that part of the world.
is that to a large extent,
in the '70s, in the '80s,
that took place at that time
in many of the people, for instance,
that are not adequately provided
sometimes even anger,
of integration policies,
a much stronger investment
to live together and respect each other.
will be multiethnic, multicultural,
in my opinion, impossible.
that they will be like that,
for that to work properly,
of your own societies.
failed in that investment
from your job at the end of the year,
for the first time, what do you see?
one million people go back home
because conflicts had ended.
displaced by conflict in the world.
of new conflicts
Democratic Republic of Congo.
is much more dangerous than it was.
of the international community
and to timely solve them,
than what it was 10 years ago.
power relations in the world,
tend to prevail, and that means
displaced by conflicts.
the Oval Office for the last time,
on the desk for his successor
to your successor, Filippo Grandi,
I would write any message.
when one leaves an office
and do your best."
for the job you do.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
António Guterres - Designate Secretary-General of the United NationsAntónio Guterres is at the forefront of advocating for refugee rights around the world.
Why you should listen
A former Portuguese prime minister, António Guterres was elected by the UN General Assembly to become the 10th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in June 2005. In October 2016 the United Nations Security Council announced he would be the next United Nations Secretary General, succeeding the retiring Ban Ki-moon.
As High Commissioner, he heads one of the world's foremost humanitarian organizations. UNHCR has twice won the Nobel Peace Prize. Its over 9,300 staff members work in 123 countries providing protection and assistance to nearly 55 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced people and stateless persons. Some 88 percent of UNHCR staff work in the field, often in difficult and dangerous duty stations.
Before joining UNHCR, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as Portuguese prime minister from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor. As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the so-called Lisbon Agenda and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He also founded the Portuguese Refugee Council in 1991 and was part of the Council of State of Portugal from 1991 to 2002.
From 1981 to 1983, Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as chairman of the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees. In addition, he has been active in Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group's vice-president from 1992 to 1999 and president from 1999 until mid-2005.
Guterres was born on April 30, 1949, in Lisbon and educated at the Instituto Superior Técnico, where he remains a visiting professor. He is married and has two children.
António Guterres | Speaker | TED.com