Vacate refugee order, UN Secretary-General tells Trump

U.N. leader on Trump order — The Secretary-General of the United Nations said Wednesday that the Trump administration’s visa bans for citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations “violate our basic principles” and would do little to stem the threat of terrorism.

“This is not the way to best protect the United States or any other country in relation to the serious concerns that exist of the possibilities of terrorist infiltration,” Secretary-General António Guterres said in his first detailed remarks on President Donald Trump’s executive order. Guterres, who took over as U.N. leader a month ago, was for 10 years the head of the U.N. refugee agency.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has therefore asked U.S. President Donald Trump to rescind the Refugee Order suspending entrance of refugees from Syria and immigrants from six other countries into the U.S.

Guterres, who made the remarks at a press briefing with UN Correspondents in New York, said the U.S. has a longstanding refugee programme and that Trump’s order should be removed “sooner rather than later”.

“In my opinion, the U.S. policy is not the way to best protect the U.S. 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,” Guterres said.

The UN chief said resettlement was often “the only possible solution” for people fleeing conflict and persecution.

He said the impact of the Executive Order signed by Trump on Friday would, among other things, halt the entire U.S. refugee programme for 120 days.

Guterres added that the order barred entry of refugees from seven countries for 90 days and suspends entry of Syrians until further notice.

According to him, resettlement of refugees 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”.

He emphasised that the measures “violate our basic principles,” adding, “they are not effective if the objective is to avoid terrorist entering the U.S.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Trump’s order temporarily barred all nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days. (NAN)