UN Secretary-General António Guterres has slammed the Refugee Order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily banning refugees into the country from Syria.
Guterres, in a statement obtained by the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York, lauded Ethiopia for keeping its borders open to refugees and for being the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa.
The Secretary-General said: “On my way back from Ethiopia, the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa that for decades has been keeping its borders open to hundreds of thousands of refugees from its neighbours, many times in dramatic security situations, I want to state the following:
“Countries have the right, even the obligation, to responsibly manage their borders to avoid infiltration by members of terrorist organisations.
“This cannot be based on any form of discrimination related to religion, ethnicity or nationality because: that is against the fundamental principles and values on which our societies are based.
“That triggers widespread anxiety and anger that may facilitate the propaganda of the very terrorist organisations we all want to fight against.
“Blind measures, not based on solid intelligence, tend to be ineffective as they risk being bypassed by what are today sophisticated global terrorist movements.’’
Guterres also said that he was concerned by the decisions that around the world have been undermining the integrity of the international refugee protection regime.
“Refugees fleeing conflict and persecution are finding more and more borders closed and increasingly restricted access to the protection they need and are entitled to receive, according to international refugee law,” the UN chief said.
NAN recalls that Trump’s order temporarily banned immigration from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia for three months and stopped Syrian refugees from coming to the U.S. for the next four months. (NAN) APT/MST