Global Compact on Refugees: positive vision lacking concrete engagement

The zero draft on the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was published on January 31 and will be discussed through Formal Consultations with UN Member States from February until July. ECRE remains skeptical of the impact it can have considering the lack of measurable operational standards and engagements or any meaningful innovations included in the draft.

The GCR will consist of two parts: the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), set out in Annex I of the New York Declaration and the Programme of Action (PoA), now presented in the form of a ‘zero draft’ which is meant to guide the practical application of the CRRF.

The PoA is rather general and predictable and draws a lot on UNHCR background papers and summaries of the CRRF Thematic Discussions that took place in 2017. It covers quite a wide range of topics in a rather generic way, directing measures to the national level with some broad structures added like the ‘global platform’ to assist with responses to specific situations, solidarity conferences and an ‘asylum capacity building group’. On the positive side, the ‘zero draft’ favours out of camp policies, cash assistance for the refugees and support for the host communities, and emphasizes the need for developmental solutions to displacement. On the negative side, however, it lacks any strong reference to non-refoulement and the right to asylum, and downplays durable solutions, especially resettlement and integration. Contingency planning and emergency preparedness, which were supposed to be core CRRF elements, are barely elaborated. More importantly, there are no concrete commitments for global responsibility sharing except for providing funds, and there are no concrete engagements for resettlement and other forms of admission. Finally, there is little to hold to account those that are supposed to implement the GCR objectives. In its written contribution to the CRRF discussions, ECRE has asked for concrete engagements, standards and indicators for States to operationalize these objectives.

“The ‘zero draft’ has no spine; it lacks ambition and concrete objectives that could transform the international community’s approach to protection, assistance and durable solutions’ says Aspasia Papadopoulou, ECRE Senior Policy Officer.“Despite being supposedly global, the document sees Western countries primarily as donors and not as hosts. This means different responsibilities for the rich and the poor countries, whereby the first essentially provide the means for the second to host the refugees in a sustainable way. The GCR needs to address this and ensure that obligations and standards apply globally to all refugee hosting states.’’

The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016 and lays down a series of non-legally binding commitments to improve the international community’s response to the movement of refugees and migrants. Part of it was the formulation of the Global Compact on Refugees, as an elaborated response plan to refugee situation worldwide and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), as a first international convention towards a “common understanding, shared responsibilities and unity of purpose regarding migration”.

 

Original source: ECRE
Published on 9 February 2018