UN refugee chief welcomes cities’ support for refugees

Cities around the world have shown vital leadership by welcoming refugees and giving them a chance to thrive outside of traditional camp settings, the UN refugee chief said.

Opening a key meeting in Geneva attended by mayors from cities as widespread as Bristol, Gaziantep, Quito and Mogadishu, Filippo Grandi said cities were playing a leading role in the push towards a new approach to hosting refugees, based on openness and inclusion.

“We think that an inclusive approach, based on investment in education and employment, is a much better and more sustainable, more dignified, model that really gives refugees opportunities for the future,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said. “It is cities that are at the forefront in implementing these policies.”

Grandi praised the work of the assembled mayors and other local authority representatives from around the world in offering a fresh start to the forcibly displaced.

Cities are playing a growing role in supporting the displaced today, when around 60 percent of the world’s 25.4 million refugees live not in camps but in cities and urban areas across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Mayors, local authorities, social enterprises and citizen groups are on the frontlines of the global refugee response, fostering social cohesion and protecting and assisting the forcibly displaced men, women and children in their midst.

The Dialogue began a day after the member states of the UN General Assembly agreed on a new international framework – known as the Global Compact on Refugees – that will transform the way the world responds to mass displacement and refugee crises, benefiting both refugees and the communities that host them.

The new global deal seeks to provide more robust support for the countries where most refugees live and strengthen the shared responsibility to aid those who are forced to flee by conflict or persecution

The agreement also envisions more resettlement opportunities – such as through family reunification, student scholarships, or humanitarian visas – so that refugees can travel safely. It also notes that the voluntary return of refugees in conditions of safety and dignity remains the preferred solution in the majority of refugee situations.

It also calls for policies and measures that will enable refugees to access education and to lead productive lives during the time they are in exile. In addition, it aims to address the environmental impact of hosting refugee populations.

Original source: UNHCR 
Published on 18 December 2018