P. S. IOM (2V) 01

The stamps have been issued in 20-stamp sheets, and the Croatian Post has also issued the commemorative First Day Cover (FDC). When the UN Assembly announced for the first time that June 20 should be proclaimed the World Refugees' Day, the High Commissioner for Refugees addressed it with the following words: "As the voice of those mostly voiceless I thank you. Refugees deserve our consideration and respect. Respect above everything. The Refugees' Day ought to become the moment for all of us to ponder on what should be done." The Croatian Post has joined this invitation in the appropriate way, paying respect to the hundreds of thousands of primarily our own refugees and displaced people, but also to those millions the High Commissioner was talking about: by issuing two commemorative postage stamps. These stamps have been dedicated to two anniversaries of those organizations engaged in dealing with the misfortunes of the voiceless - the 50th anniversary of the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, and also to the 50th anniversary of the somewhat less known but not less active international organization for refugees, IOM. During the recently finished War of Independence, Croatia was fortunate or unfortunate to have the opportunity to come into immediate contact with the activities of both organizations. It was them that have helped our country at a particular moment to look after more than 750 000 refugees, both our own and those from the neighbouring country. From our point of view, as the Croatian Post, we consider this to be more than a sufficient reason to dedicate these stamps in order to contribute to the respect and expression of the voiceless. The Croatian Post has engaged its expert designer Boris Ljubičić to try express this voicelessness of the desperate people in a language of design and thus speak in their name. He has chosen motives well known to our generation, the imminent victims of the winds of war; the martyrdom of the individual leaning against the wall, for the first stamp, and the martyrdom of the group stepping over an imaginary border, for the second one, pledging them to the light-blue hope of the UN flag - the colour to which so many wishes have been directed in the last half century. And under which blue shadow so many noble deeds have been performed. This laconic expression of the designer, though IOM is not an UN agency, pays tribute and faith to the dedicated people who have been trying for fifty years, through these two organizations, to offer asylum, refuge and sanctuary and to help the unfortunate part of humankind. There is still a question whether the blue hope has always and in all situations been at the level of its task, but this falls outside the range of this occasion. Humankind, particularized and globalized, will continue facing hardship and misfortune, i.e. the so called voluntary economic migrations or real involuntary exile, and it will continue to have the need for organizations like the UNHCR and IOM.