The United Nations is urging the international community to keep their borders open for refugees fleeing Iraq. The U.N. is holding a two-day conference to discuss how to help the four million Iraqis who have fled their homes. Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, addressed the conference.

Antonio Guterres: “The dramatic needs of the Iraqis and the challenges faced by host countries need an urgent and meaningful expression of solidarity by the international community, so well represented here today, as well as an effective action to share the humanitarian burden. That should include financial, economic and technical support, but also expanded resettlement opportunities for the most vulnerable.”

Angelo Gnaedinger, the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, also spoke.

Angelo Gnaedinger: “Bombings, suicide attacks, shootings, abductions, murders, the destruction of civilian property and forced displacements are a daily reality for millions of Iraqis. In this dreadful situation and after years of violence, one wonders if a single Iraqi family has been spared human and material loss and their accompanying physical and psychological scars.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials are now estimating the war has produced 900,000 orphans.