U.N. says it received assurances travel ban won't affect diplomats, staff
LONDON -- The United Nations says it has received assurances from the United States that the Trump administration’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries will not affect U.N. diplomats and staff members from those countries.
“We have no confirmed cases where any U.N. staff member was affected by the new policies,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
Dujarric said the U.N. was in contact with U.S. authorities over the weekend “and has been assured” that diplomats with G-2 visas and U.N. staff with G-4 visas “are exempted from the executive order” and their travel will not be affected.
Earlier, he had said a handful of staff members were kept from boarding planes over the weekend.
The executive order, which Mr. Trump signed on Friday, put a ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries -- Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Libya -- for at least 90 days.
It also placed an indefinite hold on the entry of Syrian refugees into the U.S. and suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, America’s broader refugee program, for 120 days.
Dujarric reiterated that the U.N. “very much hopes that the measures put in place regarding refugees are temporary,” saying “the U.S. has been a critical partner of the United Nations organization ... in resettling refugees.”
The head of the U.N. refugee agency estimates that some 20,000 people could have been resettled in the U.S. during Mr. Trump’s 120-day suspension on admitting refugees. The Geneva-based agency said it came up with the estimate for a total of 20,000 people who might have been resettled during that period based on average monthly figures from the past 15 years.
The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he is “deeply worried by the uncertainty” faced by thousands of refugees in the process of being resettled in the U.S.
UNHCR said in a statement on Monday that it estimates that 800 refugees were set to travel this week alone, but have been barred from entry following Trump’s executive order signed Friday.
Mr. Trump’s executive order has drawn increasing fire from around the globe. Mr. Trump, however, has defended it.
“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Mr. Trump said in a statement sent out by the White House on Sunday. “This is not about religion -- this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”
