The Acting Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Arnauld Akodjènou, took part in an official ceremony to celebrate World Refugee Day on Friday 21 June at the Ivorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abidjan.





This year's ceremony, organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in collaboration with the National Service for Aid and Assistance to Refugees and the Stateless, centred on the theme: "A family torn apart by war is one family too many".



The UNHCR Representative in Côte d'Ivoire, Ann Encontre stressed that the aim of the Day was to serve as a reminder of the right of refugees in the world to international protection and assistance from all.



"Thanks to the Ivorian government and national and international partners, 210,000 of the 290,000 refugees and persons who were displaced during the post-electoral crisis have been repatriated to Côte d'Ivoire," she declared. "However," she added, "a lot has to be done to satisfy their basic needs. I am thinking of houses and schools to be rebuilt, of health centres to be reequipped, of birth registries to be reestablished in order for the repatriated to return to a normal life in their areas of origin".



Raising the issue of Liberian refugees who have opted to integrate in Ivorian society, she launched an appeal to Ivorian authorities to help them succeed in this integration. "UNHCR will always stand by the Ivorian government to support it in the handling of this matter," she said.



For his part, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Claude Becket, declared that Côte d'Ivoire, in its traditional hospitality will always be welcoming to vulnerable persons who seek refuge on its territory.