As the United Nations moves forward on plans to launch a High-Level Panel on Internally Displaced People, one thing is clear: the work of the Panel must be deeply and significantly informed by people with lived displacement experience.

Those with lived refugee experience – whether still in displacement, resettled, or returned – offer necessary perspectives to inform smart, practical, and sustainable programs. The first-ever Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December 2019 will serve as a clear litmus test of international commitment to refugee participation under the framework of the Global Compact on Refugees.

Refugees International applauds today’s broad endorsement of the Global Compact on Refugees by the UN General Assembly. This represents a critical step toward improving the lives of some 25 million refugees around the world who have fled their home countries in search of safety.

The Global Compact for Migration will only be effective if countries move forward with its implementation. However, what is important is that the compact’s 23 objectives embody a comprehensive set of best practices for managing migration in a safe, orderly manner which requires the cooperation of countries of origin, transit and destination.

The adoption of the Compact is a historic achievement, as it represents a comprehensive framework for multilateral cooperation on international migration. It has the real potential to make a positive impact on the lives of millions of our fellow human beings who move in search of a life of dignity and security for themselves and their families.

The nations that are attending the Inter-governmental Conference on Migration in Morocco and the UN climate change negotiations in Poland clearly understand what the current U.S. administration does not (or doesn’t want to): Meeting the challenges of international migration and climate change is not a zero-sum game. Refusing to join cooperative efforts to find joint solutions does not make your own problems better, but worse.

As the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in desperate situations worldwide reaches historic levels, no nation alone can respond effectively to the challenge this presents. But two new agreements, the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration, are historic efforts to seek international cooperation. Alice Thomas and Mark Yarnell outline some of the key achievements of the compacts and make recommendations for moving them forward.

Members of the global community – including governments, civil society, and the private sector – are moving forward to tackle the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges, with or without U.S. government leadership.

At UNGA’s 73 session, RI endorses a joint civil society oral intervention that advocates for an explicit reference to sexual and reproductive health rights in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).

The development of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration comes from an acknowledgement that on every continent there are situations where migrants’ rights are violated and their humanity denied.

RI joins with 44 other civil society groups to applaud the final round of negotiations for the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) and highlight the strategic successes of the document.

Refugees International joined 179 other organizations in support of the statement (below) written in advance of the sixth and final round of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) negotiation process. The statement outlines final observations, concerns, and recommendations for the GCM.

Refugees International joined CARE International, Plan International, the UNSW Forced Migration Network, and the Women’s Refugee Commission in suggesting the following changes to the third draft of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) related to women and girls ahead of the fifth round of consultations on June 12-13, 2018 in Geneva.

It is essential that the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) address protection issues, as reaffirmation of protection principles in the GCM sends an important signal of support for the rights of migrants from governments of the world. 

Refugees International is calling on the United Nations to address climate change-related human mobility in the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, and include protections for persons moving in the context of climate change-related adverse effects, including both sudden- and slow-onset hazards.

One year ago today, the Trump administration made its ill-advised decision to withdraw the United States from the historic Paris Climate Accord. The decision effectively sidelined the United States on this critical issue, moving the country from a position of international leadership. One year later, the world is moving forward to tackle the climate crisis and related displacement issues.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people gathered across America marking the first Earth Day and the advent of a global environmental movement. Since then, the United States and other countries have adopted vital international agreements and national laws  to better protect our planet.  But in 2018, does Earth Day need a make-over? Nearly a half century later, the world faces a new threat that will have far more serious implications not just for the Earth but for human beings as well: climate change. 

This Refugees International issue brief examines the key tasks for the United Nations and its member states to establish a robust Global Compact for Refugees with governance mechanisms that can actually mobilize political leadership and engagement among both donor and host states that results in tangibly improved refugee response efforts.

As UN member states meet to discuss the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees, it is essential that they consider the specific needs of individuals impacted by natural disasters and the adverse effects of climate change. Those moving across international borders in the context of disasters and climate change do not always fall neatly within existing definitions of refugees and migrants, leaving the most vulnerable individuals without sufficient protection and at risk of human rights violations.