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High Commissioner for Refugees,
President of the General Assembly,
Prime Minister…,
President Kim,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Two years ago, we gathered here to adopt the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. We all agreed that we need fair burden and responsibility sharing in order to provide sustainable solutions both for the world’s refugees and for those who generously host them.

Since then, the number of refugees has further increased to truly alarming levels. Today more than ever, we need true partnership und solidarity in order to achieve our objective of helping refugees in the most humanitarian, efficient and effective way.

In this regard, we strongly welcome the successful conclusion of the consultations on the first-ever Global Compact on Refugees. It is a testimony to UNHCR’s commitment and to your leadership, High Commissioner, that we have achieved an outcome document that will not only be of benefit to refugees and host countries alike, but also highlights the multilateral system’s ability to tackle highly complex global issues.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Germany has assumed its share of responsibility by supporting refugees and host communities worldwide and by hosting refugees in Germany – and we will continue to do so.

For example, the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, also known as the DAFI scholarship programme, has enabled over 14,000 young refugees to pursue higher education in their first countries of asylum, thus empowering them to contribute to their host societies and rebuild their home countries.

The nomination of a German mayor for this year’s Nansen Refugee Award is a great example of the extraordinary commitment to refugee integration in Germany. It is exactly these kinds of concrete actions that the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees will support and which will improve the lives of refugees and those who host them.

Ladies and gentlemen,
In three months, we will be given a once-in-a-generation opportunity in this very location – to adopt the Global Compact on Refugees. Let us seize this great opportunity together! Thank you!