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Thank you, Mr. President/Chair.

Assistant Secretary-General,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

Allow me to express my gratitude for your timely update on the progress of your mandate and priorities as Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Solutions to Displacement.

With projections from the UNHCR indicating that almost 63 million individuals will be internally displaced due to conflict and violence in 2024, realizing the goals of the Action Agenda on Internal Displacement are incremental to reverse this trend.

The EU strongly supports your mandate and we welcome your efforts to strengthen the UN system by working together more effectively and coherently towards collective outcomes on sustainable solutions to internal displacement.

We fully support the proposed paradigm shift from a mainly humanitarian to a more development-focused approach to internal displacement. We have provided concrete support from the outset: we provided financing for the High-level Panel on Internal Displacement in 2019, and we are funding two Solution Advisers in the pilot countries Colombia and Nigeria.

The role of the UN Solutions Adviser Facility has been critical to strengthen the coherence of the UN on internal displacement and strengthen the Resident Coordinator’s leadership and UN Country Teams in transitioning political leadership within the development systems and engaging peacebuilding actors as well as to better assist IDPs.

We appreciate your engagement with the EU last December and would be keen to receive further updates on the work conducted by the Solution Advisers and the overall progress made in the pilot countries.

In particular we would appreciate information on the following five areas:

• First. We would appreciate hearing more about success stories, from the countries in which Solution Advisors are deployed, on the inclusion of IDPs within the society, including their access to public services and social cohesion with host communities as well as safe and dignified returns where feasible. Are there specific actions that can be replicated and/or scaled up?
• Second. Could you also give more detail on how the climate dimension is taken on board in the work of the Solution Advisers, especially in view of climate related displacement?
• Third. Could you share more information about recent initiatives on the mapping of current data sources and gaps on IDPs and solution by governments and partners?
• Fourth. Could you share any updates concerning the High-Level Event on Solutions to Internal Displacement in 2024?
• As fifth and finally, the EU invites the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General to produce for Member States a written overview of the results achieved, and milestones reached, in each of the pilot countries identified at the beginning of the Assistant Secretary-General’s mandate.

Let me finish by thanking you once more for your hard work and dedication.

Thank you.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.