Luxembourg's Prime Minister and Minister of State, Xavier Bettel, spoke at the plenary meeting of high-level management of massive displacement and migrants in New York, at the invitation of US President Barack Obama.
In his speech, PM Bettel said "this global crisis calls for a global response, a shared responsibility and worthy of the name solidarity." The Prime Minister also presented the efforts of Luxembourg in the matter. "It is equally important to address the root causes of the crisis of refugees and migrants," said the Prime Minister. It is for this reason that Luxembourg invests 1% of gross national income in official development assistance. In conclusion, the Prime Minister launched a call for increased political commitment to the settlement and conflict prevention to help stop the massive migration movements.
PM Bettel lamented that "the international community has all the tools in hand to improve the condition of the sixty-five million displaced persons, but it fails to implement them effictively." In this context, he called on the international community to meet the commitments made at various conferences, "Words are not enough. The world needs concrete action."
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Prime Minister had several bilateral meetings, including with President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Special Representative of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, and he also had numerous discussions with political figures in the UN corridors.
During the meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, PM Bettel referred to his recent trip to Palestine. He reiterated Luxembourg's support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the 1967 borders "A reconciliation between Palestine and Israel can only go through a resumption of dialogue between the two parties," said Xavier Bettel, adding that Luxembourg continues to support the French initiative for a revival of the peace process.
During the discussion with Leila Zerrougui, the Prime Minister congratulated the Special Representative of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict to the success of the campaign "Children, not soldiers", launched in 2015 and which among other things had the effect all countries whose national security forces in the annexes of the annual report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, signed an action plan with the UN to end grave violations against children.
PM Bettel will also participate in the leaders' summit on refugees on 23 September 2016, and he will deliver a speech during the general debate of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly this year under the theme "sustainable development goals: a universal force for transforming the world"
Photo by Rick Bajornas, UN
