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UN refugee chief highlights solutions for current crisis amid calls for humanitarian reform

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

As the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)'s 66th Session of the Executive Committee draws to a close, High Commissioner Antonio Guterres highlighted on Friday the importance of finding viable and holistic solutions to refugee and humanitarian crises around the world.

With particular reference to the European migrant and refugee crisis which has seen over 580,000 individuals arrive on EU shores by sea this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Guterres called for a unified European approach to address the situation.

"This is a European crisis, and it needs a European response, there is no way this can be solved on a country by country basis," he explained, adding that "the message that came from all delegations is that there must be a fundamental reform in the way the humanitarian system is funded and in the way it works."

Guterres stated it was essential that all regional and cultural dimensions be included in the Western-dominated multilateral system to create a more universal partnership, while appealing for enhanced flexibility in funding and supporting transparency and accountability.

The Executive Committee approved the agency's budget for 2016 during the five-day meeting whose aim is to review and approve UNHCR's programs and budgets and to advise on protection matters.

Standing at 6.54 billion U.S. Dollars, UNHCR's budget for next year is calculated on the needs and capacities the agency has to address them. Endit