28 April 2025
Thank you very much, Mr President.
I also want to thank the High Commissioner Grandi for his presentation and an update on the work of the UNHCR. We also want to thank him for guiding us through several conflicts from a perspective of civilians, refugees and IDPs. We appreciate your passionate appeal to the members of this Council.
Mr President,
The record number of women, men and children have been forced from the places they once called home. This year new records fall as entire societies, such as the one in Gaza, are being torn from their roots with ferocious speed. Ukrainians continue to flee the bombing against the call of this Council for Peace.
In Sudan alone, as many colleagues have recalled already, almost thirteen million—nearly a third of the nation —now wander in search of safety.
These are not mere numbers; it is a display of a world in distress. A display of people pushed into poverty and hunger and exposed to disease, violence, exploitation and abuse. For displaced women and girls this includes increased risks of sexual and gender-based violence.
There is one truth hiding behind all these shattered lives. The relentless disregard for international humanitarian law. We are witnessing its erosion with increasing speed. It is Security Council responsibility to protect the laws that guided humanity for past 75 years.
Mr President,
My delegation would like to outline three points, three directions that this Council and international community should be making, in order to stop and reverse these dangerous trends.
First: Save lives, Protect People, Enable Aid.
We demand the absolute protection of civilians—always and everywhere.
That protection extends to every humanitarian worker, to every United Nations and associated staff, whether flown in from afar or recruited from the very communities they serve.
Humanitarian access is not a matter of discretion; it is a legal obligation of every country under international law.
Second: Confront the Climate Displacement Storm.
We want to point at a disaster that lingers in silence: climate change. Its effects present an everyday growing challenge, which calls for enhanced collaboration and action.
Climate‑fueled floods, fires and prolonged droughts now drive families from their homes as ruthlessly as any gunman or bombs. Environmental degradation and water scarcity amplify existing conflicts and seed new ones, striking civilians hardest both during and after war.
We therefore insist that climate and environmental considerations be woven—systematically and without delay—into every strand of conflict‑prevention, resolution and peace‑building.
Third: Support the Humanitarians and End Statelessness.
High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and the men and women of UNHCR serve on the very front lines of human need. They have our deepest respect—and they must feel and get our concrete support. As the Council, we must do more for protection of humanitarian workers and for ending impunity for attacks against them.
Through its development aid, Slovenia is committed to continue addressing the root causes of migration. It has been responding to needs of conflict victims and displaced populations and it has been assisting safe returns of refugees.
We have ratified the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and we will soon join the Global Alliance to End Statelessness.
Mr President, these three directions, if we follow them, our chances to change the tone and substance of meetings with High Commissioner and many other meetings in the future will be better. Let’s step up our efforts.
Thank you.