UNHCR Refugee-Themed Book Exhibition: A Shared Longing for Home in a Changing World

I am pleased to join you today for this unique commemoration of World Humanitarian Day. I am thankful to be in the company of fellow lovers of literature, including Mr. Xi Chuan, Professor at Beijing Normal University, Mr. Vanno Noupech, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in China, and all of you present.

Over 76 years ago, a prior generation of world leaders came together to create the United Nations. From the ashes of war and division, they fashioned this Organization and the values of peace, dialogue and international cooperation which underpin it, as enshrined in our founding Charter. It remains the one place where all nations can gather to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. But global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, rising conflict and inequalities, remind us that renewed action is needed if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Regaining our momentum will take connecting people across borders and cultures to build respect, tolerance, and solidarity.

Literature can act as an entry point and platform for enhanced intercultural exchange and dialogue. Now more than ever, and in the context of COVID-19, we need ways to engage and experience other cultures and places, even without leaving home. Literature can help transport us to people, places, and experiences far from our own realities. Literature can shine a light on the past and inspire us to think differently about the future. Literature evokes emotion and fosters compassion.

Compassion is what inspires us each year on World Humanitarian Day, when the UN recognizes the people affected by humanitarian crises and the humanitarian aid workers who seek to help them. This year’s World Humanitarian Day theme, “It Takes a Village”, reminds us that whenever and wherever people are in need, there are others who help them. They are the affected people themselves – always first to respond when disaster strikes – and a global community that supports them as they recover.

The UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, in his message for this year's World Humanitarian Day, said, “Far from the spotlight and out of the headlines, humanitarians work around the clock to make our world a better place. Against incredible odds, often at great personal risk, they ease suffering in some of the most dangerous circumstances imaginable.”

For those who live in relative peace and safety, it can be hard to imagine the violence, suffering and danger that civilians and aid workers face daily in places like Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is a frontline humanitarian member of the UN family responding to the most human dimension of these emergencies: people forced to flee violence, conflict, and persecution. On World Humanitarian Day, we reflect on the importance, effectiveness, and positive impact of the UN’s humanitarian work, to which UNHCR contributes.  

This year the world reached a tragic milestone, with the number of people forcibly displaced reaching more than 100 million for the first time on record. Here, a vital part of our humanitarian work must be to raise public awareness and share the stories behind this astonishing statistic in order to support our continued global response.

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, we acknowledge the lives and contributions of refugees and aid workers, some of whom are authors, illustrators, and subjects in this fascinating collection of books featured by UNHCR. This collection and exhibition encourage us to go beyond the numbers, to see the stories of people with lived experiences of forced displacement and those who work in humanitarian crises. Through this, I hope we can find a multi-dimensional perspective into this diverse and varied group of people, allowing us the opportunity to enhance our understanding, compassion, and solidarity.  

Ladies and Gentleman,   

I hope this collection of books will inspire readers to keep reading, especially about the people that UN humanitarian agencies aim to protect and help, and to be reminded about the enduring values enshrined in our own founding document – the UN Charter: peace and security, human rights, and development, which should guide all of us in our work and actions.  

Thank you.