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“Like millions of refugees worldwide, they are helping bring new life, prosperity and rich diversity to their host communities. We must continue supporting them,” the UN chief said on Twitter following the visit.Mr. Guterres, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, stressed the vital role of developed nations in receiving refugees and providing them with opportunities, whoever they are, wherever they come from, and whenever they are forced to flee, echoing his official message for World Refugee Day, marked on Monday.

Mr. Guterres’ first stop was in Brooklyn, where he visited Suzan Al Shammari, an Iraqi refugee who in 2010 fled with her family from Baghdad to Cairo, Egypt.Registered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, they were later able to resettle in California and from there, with further assistance, they made their way to New York.Ms. Al Shammari told the Secretary-General that having grown up in war, she wants to be able to support other refugees. In that spirit, she is currently a caseworker with a non-governmental organization (NGO) – having recently graduating with a university master’s degree.

“Every day you think it is going to be the last. And it is not just one of those things... it literally could be your last. When I went to Egypt with my family it was also hard being there as a refugee in limbo. So, moving to the US, as big a blessing as it was, it took me some years to adjust that ‘I am not going to die tomorrow’,” Ms. Al Shammari said.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1120762