IN BRIEF

ARCHBISHOP CELESTINO MIGLIORE, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, yesterday participated in the fourth committee of the U.N. General Assembly which met to reflect on the activities of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). Speaking English, the prelate highlighted how "the centrality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the continuing instability in the Middle East and its impact on the whole international community cannot be ignored. ... My delegation remains convinced that the two-State solution has the best chance to settle the crisis. ... While the international community can only do so much in providing all the support needed to bring together those in conflict, it is indispensable that the parties must set aside the pretense of peace-making and start full negotiations for a two-State solution."
 
ON NOVEMBER 8, DURING THE 62ND SESSION OF THE U.N. General Assembly, which is meeting to consider the report of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Archbishop Celestino Migliore expressed his concern over the plight of people forced by various causes to leave their homes, "especially when they move across frontiers of countries or regions with rigid migration policies. Concerns increase when doubts arise regarding the applicability of existing international instruments, or when no legal instruments of protection exits. It seems therefore urgent to consider a coordinated international effort, with a view to seeking greater clarity in existing legal instruments of protection or, if need be, to establishing new ones."
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