Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman participated in a video conference of the 71st session of the UNHCR Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme on Monday, welcoming the European Commission's New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

In the context of Croatia’s commitment to ensuring regulated and safe migration, Minister Grlic Radman welcomed the presentation of the European Commission’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum aimed at establishing a new and sustainable approach to migration at the European level, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Addressing the conference, Grlic Radman spoke about Croatia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of the year, underlining how the UNHCR’s approach of combining humanitarian aid, development aid and combating the fundamental causes of migration, was high on Croatia’s agenda.

As an expression of Croatia’s solidarity and actions on the global level, he highlighted a development programme for educating refugee women that was presented at the end of 2019 at the Global Refugee Forum. Croatia wants to assist in strengthening the economy and access to the labour market for 110 Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, according to the press release.

Grlic Radman said that Croatia would take in 12 girls from the recently fire-razed Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

High Commissioner Filippo Grandi hosted the session with special emphasis on additional challenges that forcibly displaced persons are facing in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and he presented the UNHCR’s response to support refugees and internally displaced persons in host countries during the crisis.