UN chief: US should lift measures suspending refugee resettlement

The UN secretary-general made the statements while reacting to the recent suspension by the United States of its longstanding refugee program.

Asked about the impact of the Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump on January 27, that, among things, halts the entire US refugee program for 120 days, bars entry of refugees from seven mostly Muslim countries for 90 days and suspends entry of Syrians until further notice, the UN chief said resettlement is a must and the United States has always been at the forefront of refugee protection.
Syrians are those that at present have the most dramatic needs.

Speaking to the press at UN headquarters just after returning from a trip to Ethiopia for the African Union Summit, Guterres emphasized that in his opinion, the US policy is not the best way to protect the US or any other country, in relation to the serious concerns that exist about the possibility of terrorist infiltration.

'I don’t think this is the effective way to do so and I think these measures should be removed sooner rather than later,' he added.

Noting that the measures violate 'our basic principles', he said they are not effective if the objective is to avoid terrorists entering the US.

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