FOREWORD What I am asking of you here today is not a new convention or an extended mandate for UNHCR. What I am asking is for all of us to assume our shared duty. Opening remarks by Mr. António Guterres I am delighted to present in this publication the outcomes of the intergovernmental event at ministerial level of United Nations Member States (Ministerial Intergovernmental Event) that my Office facilitated in December 2011 to mark the anniversaries of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This landmark event provided a unique opportunity to discuss and shape the evolution of the international protection system over the next decade. We live in difficult and unpredictable times in which we are witnessing the combination of two very worrying factors. New crises are multiplying and old crises seem never to die. The number of people displaced by conflict, natural disasters and other sources of insecurity and risk is increasing. Moreover, there is growing uncertainty and concern within many societies linked to the global economic crisis and other factors. In such a fluid global context, the institution of asylum and the obligations enshrined in the international framework for the protection of refugees and stateless persons take on greater significance than ever. The humanitarian community can mitigate the suffering, we can strive to solve the individual problems of the people we serve, but there is no way to find a true solution without the political will of States. It is against this backdrop that the Ministerial Intergovernmental Event took place. Member States adopted a Ministerial Communiqué on 8 December 2011 – a strong statement of political will – in which they recommit to the principles and values underlying the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Communiqué also recognizes the important standards for the prevention and resolution of statelessness and safeguards for the protection of stateless people that the statelessness instruments provide. This sent out an important message that there are fundamental values which must not be undermined. Proof of the importance UN Member States continue to attach to the protection of refugees and stateless persons is the fact that more than 150 participated in the meeting – over 75 per cent of all UN Member States – over half of whom were represented at ministerial or equivalent level. Such broad and high-level participation and the substantive outcomes that were 5