Annual Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting next week

UNHCR's governing body, the 66-nation Executive Committee, will be holding its 55th annual session in Geneva at the Palais des Nations next week from 4-8 October. On Monday, shortly after 10 am, High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers will open the five-day meeting with a keynote address touching on UNHCR's operations throughout the world, the protection and security needs of refugees, the safety of staff and the many challenges the agency is facing. Following the High Commissioners speech will be this year's guest speaker - the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, James Morris.

The Executive Committee reviews and approves UNHCR's programmes and budgets and advises on protection matters. It sets international standards with respect to the treatment of refugees and provides a forum for wide-ranging exchanges among governments, UNHCR and its numerous partner agencies.

On Tuesday at 9.15 am, the High Commissioner will brief the committee on his just-completed mission to Chad and Sudan to see first-hand the situation facing refugees and displaced people of the strife-torn Darfur region.