00:00And now for the humanitarian lens on all of this, we're joined here in the studio by Jean-Nicolas
00:04Beuze from the UNHCR here in Brussels. Good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. And
00:09of course, as we're reporting there, the war in Iran really flaring up again. What does that mean
00:13for your job and for, of course, migration flows and the humanitarian aspect? So every time that
00:18bombs are being dropped or drones attacks occur, we have people who are forced to leave their home,
00:24whether it's in Iran, in Ukraine or in Sudan. So we can expect that some people last night had to
00:31flee their home because they were destroyed, but also many others will flee as a preventative measure
00:36because they are afraid that they are the next target. What we saw in the case of Iran, specifically
00:41earlier this year, is that more, according to official figure, more than one million people
00:45were displaced, mainly to rural areas to avoid the urban center, which were targeted, but have no
00:52come back. Except that for 150,000 families who have their house destroyed, they will not be able
00:59to come back. So that's where the humanitarian, UNHCR and others have to step in to provide some
01:05support with the authorities in the case of Iran. And how are you providing that support when cuts
01:10are being, you know, there's many cutbacks to your organization. We're hearing as well, Trump saying
01:14that the bombing could get, quote, much worse. Every time we have to make choice, we have to decide,
01:20we have to prioritize who we are going to help. Are we going to help the mothers with three children
01:26or the mothers with seven children? Are we going to help the elderly people who have no support?
01:31Every time it's a choice because indeed, over the last two years, three years, the humanitarian
01:37partners have seen the budget put at their disposal by donor countries, the US, the European Union,
01:46the Gulf countries, releasing to almost less than half of what we had three years ago. And the needs
01:52are continuing rising. So therefore, we are unable to help everyone. And meanwhile, it's already one
01:56month since the EU's migration and asylum pact has come into force. What has changed in your view?
02:01So we will see the test is really the implementation in one in every of the 27 member states, we
02:07will see
02:07whether it will make the decision faster, fairer, whether it will make the life of the decision maker
02:13easier and less costly for us, the taxpayer, because it will be a more rapid decision,
02:19but also whether the principle, the protection principle behind the asylum system in Europe will
02:25help. Are we going to continue not detaining people or people who seek asylum will be systematically
02:32detained? Are we going to give them legal aid so they can navigate the asylum procedures, which are
02:37quite complex? Or are we going to lose, leave them alone, figuring out what needs to be done with
02:44appeal and appeal, which are very costly for us? So the test now is really in the implementation.
02:48And a big focus now, of course, on returns. And we saw technical talks take place recently here between
02:53officials from the Commission and the Taliban. What was your view of this encounter?
02:57So what we need to remind everyone is that a country may be in different faces. We're speaking about
03:04Afghanistan with the Taliban. We're speaking about Syria with a new regime and probably more hope for
03:09people to return. And we're speaking about Sudan, where the return is not possible because it's a
03:15dire situation with the conflict and famine increasing. What is really important for the European Union
03:21is to keep the principle that nobody shall be returned to a possible situation of harm. And the harm can
03:28come from different actors, from different situations. So before sending anyone to Afghanistan,
03:35Syria or Sudan, we need to ensure that there's an individual assessment. Will this person be able to
03:42regain control over their life without being put at risk?
03:45Okay. Jean-Nicolas Beuze, thank you so much for coming into us here and being our guest.
03:49You
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