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World Refugee Day event in Baku

18 June 2009 16:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva â€“ APA. UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the government of Azerbaijan have organized a joint event in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall in Baku on the occasion of June 20, World Refugee Day, APA reports. Vice Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Ali Hasanov said Azerbaijan was facing with the problem of refugees for more than 20 years and with the problem of internally displaced persons for more than 16 years. â€œThere is no enough international legal basis for legal regulations of the problems of internally displaced persons. The refugee is the person expelled from other country, but IDP is the person displaced inside own country. The internally displaced persons suffer more than persons expelled from other countries. I donâ€™t intend to damage the status of refugees. But the international community must change its approach to the people of these two categoriesâ€.

Hasanov said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev achieved the solution of problems of the internally displaced persons. â€œThe only problem is the liberation of the occupied lands. The President said that there couldnâ€™t be concession in the issue of liberation of the lands and the negotiations are conducted on the pre-condition of restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijanâ€.

UNHCR representative in Azerbaijan Arun Sala-Ngarm said that refugees and internally displaced persons are the most vulnerable people in our world society - yet despite often having lost everything - their homes, livelihoods, families, friends, and communities - they never lose hope. â€œThey lost everything, but they donâ€™t lose their hopes. Unfortunately despite the efforts of many, including government, UNHCR, international community and civil society, the needs of refugeesâ€™ worldwide are far from being metâ€.