I am very grateful to His Excellency Mr. Petteri Orpo, Minister of the Interior, and the staff and volunteers from the Red Cross, the City, and many people, particularly the Government and people of Finland for their very generous, warm heart, for many refugees who have come to Finland for better opportunities.

I am very moved of having toured this facility and met many refugees who are trying to learn the language, the culture and the history, so that they can easily adapt to this new situation, these new circumstances.

I also appreciate particularly to have this opportunity of being able to stand side by side to the High Commissioner [for Refugees] Antonio Guterres. You may know that he has been working as High Commissioner for Refugees, taking care of millions of refugees, migrants and stateless people, over the last ten years.

As this month is going to be the last month of his mandate as High Commissioner for Refugees after ten years, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation for his leadership and commitment to humanity, working so hard for the well-being of many refugees. I wish him all the best and thank you very much for your leadership.

Again, I commend the Finnish Government for their very generous support. The Finnish reception system is a model of efficiency and compliance with international standards. Such systems must always be designed and also emulated by other people and other Governments. That, I really appreciate. They are taking care of maybe some traumatized people, who are feeling extreme exhaustion and despair, but it is important to give them a sense of hope and promise for a better future.

The current situation may be very difficult for them because they have left their hometowns, their home countries, so they have nothing in their hands. We hope that they will be treated with human dignity and also urgent necessary humanitarian support.

I have also been deeply moved and inspired by the compassionate response from Finnish civil society to help refugees and migrants arriving here. The kindness and solidarity of thousands of citizens shows how tolerance and compassion towards people in need run strong in your country and your communities, and I thank you for that.

In the same spirit, refugees are often eager to learn and give back to the society from where they receive such support. When countries ensure the rights of migrants and refugees, that enables them to enrich their own new communities. We know that integration takes time, resources and good will from all sides. I count on Finland to be an example for such good will and joint efforts.

We also need strong leadership – and media engagement – in the fight against rising xenophobia and discrimination. We need an open, honest and constructive dialogue to prevent polarization, racism and violence. They should be treated as human beings, with human dignity, and I have been condemning all the time such inflammatory rhetoric by certain political leaders and community leaders. This must be prevented, stopped.

No country alone can address a challenge that is inherently international. That is why Finland’s role in the European Union is so important.

I sincerely thank Finland and its citizens for their readiness to take on their responsibility and to ensure that more people can find safety.

Beyond Finland, we are working to address the broader dimensions of this global refugee crisis.

I have asked the High Commissioner for Refugees to convene a high-level meeting in March in Switzerland to discuss about resettlement plus. And I have proposed to the Member States of the United Nations to convene a Summit meeting just one day before the General Debate – that will be September 19 2016, where I expect that the world leaders will come and discuss how we can have a Global Compact for responsibility sharing. This will be a very important occasion and I am sure that Member States will support my proposal.

There will also be the important World Humanitarian Summit in May in Istanbul next year. All these important international Conferences, I hope, will provide impetus for world leaders and people to do much more to provide humanitarian assistance to those people who need urgent humanitarian support.

Let’s work together to make this world better for all, particularly for those people who need our urgent support.

Thank you for your leadership and commitment, thank you very much.

Q: You yourself have been some kind of refugee during the Korean War. Can you tell us something about those days and how did you feel then?

SG: When I was six years old, in 1950, the Korean War broke out. I had to flee my hometown. Of course, at that time, I didn’t cross a national border, I was displaced inside Korea. I was one of maybe hundreds of thousands, even millions, and life was much much more miserable because [we were] in the middle of regular warfare.

At that time, I still remember, there was the United Nations. The United Nations came and delivered all we needed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing here as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I have been travelling in many areas where I have seen heartbreaking scenes – refugees, people who are sick, who are injured by fighting and violence, particularly women and girls. So all these are still situations where the United Nations has much to do. It pains me, it is heartbreaking but that also motivates me as Secretary-General.

What can I do more for these people? How can I repay back what I have received no more than 50 years ago to those people? At the same time, we have to do much more so that not more people are put in that kind of situation.

Unfortunately, we are still living in a time of crisis, conflicts, but we have also seen some sense of hope and promise. World leaders are united, they have presented a very visionary sustainable development agenda, aiming by 2030 to put an end to abject poverty, put an end to gender discrimination and discrimination based on many other reasons – race, sex, belief, etc.

We have a good vision and now we have to deliver. First and foremost, we have to help the helpless and defenceless refugees and migrants, and I really thank you, Mr. Minister, for your strong compassion and leadership.

Q: The Government of Finland said yesterday it is planning big changes in asylum-seekers policy, for example having them work for free. What do you think when you observe Finland and other European countries tightening their asylum seekers’ policy?

SG: I am not in a position to comment any such domestic agenda. Each and every leader has its own policies on how they can give the most opportunities and benefits to their people through their social economic policies. That is up to them.

What I can tell you at this time as Secretary-General of the United Nations is that, while it is very difficult, particularly during this international economic difficulty, European Union [countries] are the most well to do and most capable to do: so they have to provide much more support.

What I have been urging the leadership of this country and the leadership of European countries is not to divert already ear-marked development aid, official assistance development budget, to other purposes. Of course, for very imminent and urgent support, it may be done on a temporary basis but in the middle and longer-term, they should provide [assistance] in a comprehensive and balanced way.

That is what I have been urging here.

Kiitos. Thank you very much.