The first Global Refugee Forum, which brought together over 2000 representatives of official delegations, international institutions and organizations, private and non-governmental sectors, and refugees, was held on 16-18 December 2019 in Geneva.
The aim of the forum was to elaborate new approaches and lasting pledges for helping refugees and their hosts.
UN Secretary-General A.Guterres, President of Turkey R.Erdogan, Prime Minister of Pakistan I.Khan, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland I.Cassis and of Germany H.Maas took part in the opening ceremony.
A.Guterres emphasized that more than 70 million people have been forced from their homes, including 25 million of refugees. He noted that now more than ever, we need international cooperation and practical, effective responses.
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhanar Aitzhanova in her speech underlined effective cooperation of Central Asian states within the Almaty Process on Refugee Protection and International Migration, inauguration of the UN regional hub in Almaty, and also highlighted measures, taken by Kazakhstan’s Government, on creating conditions for refugees.
She emphasized that Kazakhstan fulfilled the pledge made in October this year to issue the registration of children at birth, whose mothers do not have identification documents, and provide them with birth certificates.
In conclusion, Zhanar Aitzhanova announced Kazakhstan’s pledge to issue ICAO standard machine-readable travel documents for refugees residing in our country.
