As delivered by ambassador and permenant representative Hans Brattskar.
Thank you, co-chair, and thank you assistant high commissioner for your presentation this morning.
Let me start by saying that we agree with how section B of the draft GCR is being framed, namely as an identification of important areas where states and other actors must support host countries in order to achieve comprehensive responses.
In general, we welcome the ideas put forward under the section on reception and admission.
We agree that proper registration and identification is key for states. Not only for administrative purposes, but also to define appropriate services.
States are in principle responsible for registration and status determination of refugees. UNHCR should ideally be able to rely on states for this task.
In reality, we know that this is not always possible. In situations with large and sudden influxes of refugees, the existing capacity for reception will often fall short.
In light of this, we support the idea of establishing an asylum response group, which would draw resources from a pool of experts in relevant fields to assist governments of host countries.
We would like to ask UNHCR how the asylum response group would be activated, and if the idea is to activate it both in new and protracted situations?
Thank you.