NEW YORK, NY – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in a rare press conference Tuesday, scolded developed countries for not being more open to refugees from the developing world, accusing rich countries of engaging in an “irrational debate” on migration and holding Uganda up as an “exemplary” model to follow.
The press conference marked Guterres’ first at the U.N. headquarters since he became the body’s top official in January, and he opened up the conference with a stern lecture on the subject of refugees. Noting he was the former High Commissioner for Refugees for ten years, he said that, at that time, “borders were in general open, there were very few situations where refugees were rejected or sent back to their countries of origin.”
“There was in general, a strong acceptance by member states that refugee protection was something that was needed and that had to be granted,” he said, but added: “the situation has considerably changed now.”
He then launched into a criticism of parts of the developed world that have closed up their borders and refugees being rejected, and bemoaned “populist politics” in richer countries, a possible swipe at Western leaders such as President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán:
This is particularly worrying especially when associated with forms of political populism, xenophobia, racism in which refugees become a target, many times being accused of being part of a terror threat when refugees are not terrorists, they are the first victims of terrorism, they are fleeing terrorism that is why they are refugees.
He then compared the situation to that in poorer countries. In particular, he praised Uganda’s approach and compared it to the “irrational” debate about migration happening in some developed countries.
“Uganda last year received three times more refugees from South Sudan than those crossing the central Mediterranean, and you all know the enormous impact in public opinion and political debates that the movement through the central Mediterranean caused last year,” he said, before noting he was about to visit Uganda:
It’s a message of solidarity given the extreme generosity of the Ugandan people and government in the face of number of refugees it is hosting – 1.3 million, 950,000 from South Sudan alone – with open borders, open doors, open hearts, sharing resources, sharing land, which is really exemplary in a world where unfortunately so many borders and doors are closed.
When asked specifically about the Trump administration, Guterres said that, while there were publicly-known disagreements on issues such as the Paris climate agreement and refugee resettlement, he wants to engage “positively and constructively” with the administration. He said he would encourage the U.S. to return to levels of refugee resettlement seen in the U.S. “two or three years ago.”
Guterres also warned the U.S. about pulling back from the international stage.
“If the U.S. disengages in many aspects of foreign policy and international relations it will be unavoidable that other actors will enter that space,” he said. “I don’t think that’s good for the U.S. and I don’t think that’s good for the world.”
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.