"We should focus our efforts on addressing the root causes of forced displacement, fully respecting human rights and humanitarian law and principles, and ensuring safe and sustainable access of humanitarian aid to the persons in need," stated Ambassador Yuri Sterk, Bulgaria’s Permanent Representative to UN-Geneva, addressing the 75th Session of the UNHCR Executive Committee, which took place on 14-18 October 2024. Ambassador Sterk called for solidarity and understanding towards countries hosting refugees and shared the need for UNHCR to pay special attention to persons in vulnerable situations, especially women, children and persons with disabilities. He briefed the participants on the measures taken by Bulgaria to improve the situation of unaccompanied refugee children and in implementing the commitments made at the Second Global Refugee Forum in 2023.

The High-Level Segment of session marked the end of UNHCR's "I Belong Campaign" (#IBelong Campaign), took stock of achievements and best practices and launched a Global Alliance to End Statelessness.

In the general debate of the 75th Session, the grave humanitarian consequences of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, as well as of the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine, featured prominently. Countries hosting significant numbers of refugees called for more solidarity and for search of sustainable solutions, complementary pathways to include refugees into their host communities and the provision of more and flexible funding to deal with protracted and emergency refugee situations. Strengthening UNHCR's partnerships with other international organizations to address the challenges of mixed migration and refugee flows was also among the highlights of the interventions of the 152 countries participating in the debate.