Pakistan: UN conference on future of Afghan refugees kicks off in Islamabad

W/S Refugee summit Islamabad, Islamabad
W/S Summit in progress
SOT, Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General: “Working towards solutions for the Afghan people is not just a sign of solidarity; it is in the world’s best interest. Afghans now constitute the largest group of arrivals in Europe, exceeding for the first time the arrivals from Syria. Returns to Afghanistan, as we both said, have hit a historical low. Afghanistan and its people cannot be abandoned. Now is the time for the international community to act and to deliver.”
M/S Audience *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: “This is what we are here to mark today: the compassion, the hospitality, the solidarity of the people of the host countries; and the courage and resilience of the Afghan people.”
W/S Audience *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: “Working on solutions is all the more important as efforts to revitalise the peace process in Afghanistan continue and hopefully gain momentum. Afghan displacement can only be solved by peace, and peace will be strengthened by solving forced displacement.”
M/S Audience *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan: “Who wants to be a refugee? It is probably the most difficult decision for a human being to leave his home.”
W/S Summit in progress
SCRIPT
“Afghanistan and its people cannot be abandoned,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as the two-day Refugee Summit Islamabad kicked off in the Pakistani capital on Monday.
“Afghans now constitute the largest group of arrivals in Europe, exceeding for the first time the arrivals from Syria. Returns to Afghanistan, as we both said, have hit a historical low,” Guterres told the audience of the summit, jointly hosted by Pakistan and the UNHCR on the occasion of 40 years of conflict in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan and its people cannot be abandoned. Now is the time for the international community to act and to deliver.”
“Afghan displacement can only be solved by peace, and peace will be strengthened by solving forced displacement,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
“Who wants to be a refugee? It is probably the most difficult decision for a human being to leave his home,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Four decades of war and conflict have produced more than 2.6 million Afghan registered refugees, with 1.4 million living in Pakistan alone.
Afghanistan has reportedly seen deadly fighting on the ground over the weekend between the Taliban and the Afghani government, despite reported peace talks between US and Taliban negotiators.