High Commissioner at High-Level Dialogue on Migration

High Commissioner António Guterres is currently in New York attending the UN General Assembly's High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development. Later today, the High Commissioner will take part in a round-table discussion on partnerships, capacity-building and best practices.

The High Commissioner is expected to remind participants that population movements around the world are becoming more and more complex, and that refugees and asylum seekers are only a small proportion of those on the move. But since genuine asylum seekers may use the same routes and means - including illicit ones - UNHCR and its partners need to have physical access to people moving via these channels. It's also essential that the refugees among these much larger migratory flows have access to national asylum procedures.

The purpose of the High-level Dialogue is to discuss the various aspects of international migration in order to identify appropriate ways and means of maximizing its benefits for development while minimizing negative impact.

As a protection agency, UNHCR can provide practical support to states: for example to build their capacity to protect and assist; to help to identify those in need of protection within broader movements; to provide country-of-origin information; and to use our good offices to promote burden-sharing arrangements, including through resettlement.