The Executive Committee of the High Commissioner for Refugees Programme holds its 63nd session from 1 to 5 October 2011 in Geneva.

The session involves delegations of 120 countries, international and regional organizations, including Council of Europe, IOM, ICRC, UNDP, WFP, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Bank, Organization of Islamic Conference, African Union and others.

This year session will consider report on the Intergovernmental event at the ministerial level of the United Nations member states on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, approve the revised Biennial Program Budget for 2012-2013 years, consider and adopt reports of the 53nd, 54th, 55th meeting of the Standing Committee and discuss a wide range of other issues in refugee protection.

At the opening of the session as part of his speech, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres noted that while until 2010 crisis were mainly environmental with several cases of political instability, the characteristics of the 2011-2012 crisis are the increasing number of conflicts and resulting migration flows, unpredictable and dangerous conditions of environment for humanitarian actors, increasing of financial needs. In this regard, he urged the international community to take steps for prevention and rapid resolution of conflicts, and states – to strengthen their commitments and partnerships.

The participation of the delegation of Ukraine in the work of the session as an observer is provided by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Geneva.