TheUNHCR Standing Committee 69th Session
Remarks by Estonia
Agenda item 2: “International Protection”
Checkagainst delivery
Geneva, 28thJune 2017
Ms. Chairperson,
Estonia aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union.
Allow me to thank the UNHCR for the presentations andthe thorough and rich background documentation for this session. We appreciatethat besides underlining the numerous serious challenges, the documentationalso highlights solutions.
Estonia remains deeplyconcerned about the growing trend of forced displacement and especially about conflict-induceddisplacement leading to ever-increasing humanitarian and protection challenges. The global community has to step up to tackle the rootcauses of instability and underlying drivers of conflict. In this context, the need for respect for international norms, provision ofprotection and finding political solutions cannot be over-emphasised.
The New YorkDeclaration and the adoption of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Frameworkwas an important milestone in 2016. As the Assistant High Commissioner onprotection Mr. Volker Türk emphasised, the NewYork Declaration lays the ground for positive change to the current deterioratingprotection trends. We fully agree with the note on international protection in thatthe commitments of the New York Declaration need to translate to action, now.In this regard, Estonia lives up to its commitments and is committed to supportingcommunities and countries receiving large numbers of forcibly displaced personsand contributing to increasing the international cooperation including throughmore equitable responsibility sharing. Estonia is one of the States thatstarted resettlement activities in 2016 and in this regard, we thank the UNHCRfor its advice and support in developing effective national procedures and receptioncapacity.
Finally, Estoniashares the views voiced by Denmark and others that the wider approach to IDPsituations is not covered by the two global compacts that the internationalcommunity is currently developing. Therefore, in the coming years, there is needto find ways to tackle this gap.
Thank you!