UNITED NATIONS, June 20 -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, hours before flying to Uganda to show solidarity with refugees there, marked World Refugee Day on Tuesday with pleas for acceptance of the world's 65.5 million refugees and expressing hope they would integrate into their host societies.

The former UN refugee chief held his first formal news conference at UN Headquarters since becoming UN secretary-general on Jan. 1. The nearly hour-long session touched topics ranging from refugees and migrants to the Syria conflict, the Qatar rift and a vacuum in international relations.

Refugee Day is "full of emotions for me," Guterres said in his opening remarks. "It is impossible to be 10 years as (UN) high commissioner for refugees ... without changing your life."

"Indeed, not only witnessing the suffering of people but also learning (about) the extraordinary courage, resilience and capacity to permanently generate hope of refugees is something that has changed my perspective of the world and, to a large extent, changed my life," Guterres said.

"We are witnessing the largest number of refugees ever," he said. "Refugee protection is an obligation under international law -- the (1951 Refugee) Convention and many regional instruments of binding nature."

"By and large, international law was respected" while he was refugee chief, Guterres said. "The situation has considerably changed now."

【国际英语资讯:UN chief marks World Refugee Day; comments on Russia, Syria, U.S.】相关文章：

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