Persons fleeing localized, generalized and indiscriminate violence as well as gross human rights violations are in need of international protection.

At present, such persons do not always get the international protection they need, often because accounts of violence are deemed not to meet the threshold applied during status determination procedures, or because asylum seekers can find it difficult to prove individual persecution or threat.

Efforts to secure their protection are within UNHCR's mandate. It is our sincere hope that people forced to flee generalized violence can be fully included in national protection regimes.

All initiatives which promote constructive ways of working together, between international organizations, Governments and civil society, to realize effective and comprehensive solutions have our full support.

Erika Feller
Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR