The UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, invited WEF participants to a ‘Refugee Run’ with a debriefing discussion afterwards. Deeply moved by what he experienced in the simulation, Antonio Guterres presented the objectives of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. He emphasized that the interest of the public often decreases rapidly after an event, as soon as the next disaster happens. But that the concequences of disasters in the affected region are felt for many more years after the attention of the public has long decreased.

To improve prevention, as is the goal of the Global Risk Forum in Davos, he views as beeing extremely important.  But unfortunately, politics and media are not as much interested in prevention as in disasters and catastrophes, since prevention does not catch so much emotional attention in the public.

High Commissionier for Refugees Antonio Guterres and Walter Ammann in conversation at the Global Risk Forum GRF Davos booth

Antonio Guterres and Walter Ammann in discussion with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

Antonio Guterres and Walter Ammann in discussion with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

The Mayor of Davos Hans Peter Michel, the President of Global Risk Forum GRF Davos Walter Ammann and the United Nations Under-Secretary General Antonio Guterres in conversation at the Global Risk Forum GRF Davos booth