UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Air Arabia, the MENA region’s low-cost carrier, have launched an advocacy campaign to mark the agency’s 70th anniversary. The campaign entails positioning UNHCR’s artwork on one of Air Arabia’s aircrafts for three months, starting today.

In a ceremony attended by Nadia Jbour, Head of UNHCR office in the UAE; Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer of Air Arabia; and other members of both organisations, the campaign was inaugurated at Air Arabia hanger in Sharjah, UAE.

“Since 1951, our mission has been to protect people forced to flee, providing humanitarian assistance and solutions to millions around the world. Today, we are more than 17,000 colleagues working in 135 countries around the world,” said Jbour.

“We are very grateful to Air Arabia for their generous contribution to highlighting the plight of refugees and forcibly displaced people, at times where displacement has reached unprecedented levels and international solidarity is needed more than ever,” she added.

In turn, Al Ali commented, “UNHCR’s mission is vital to the wellbeing of people and communities all over the world, and for 70 years, the UN Refugee Agency has been making a difference by safeguarding the rights of people who have been forced to flee. We aim through the advocacy campaign to mark the agency’s 70th anniversary to make a small contribution in highlighting the important role UNHCR continues to play in providing humanitarian assistance to millions around the world”.

On 14th December, 1950, the UN General Assembly adopted UNHCR’s statute, with the mission of protecting people forced to flee, providing humanitarian assistance and solutions to millions around the world. Today, nearly 80 million people are refugees, internally displaced or stateless- or 1 in every 100 people, thus UNHCR’s work has never been more pressing and complex.