The current international refugee system is inequitable and unsustainable. The intensive and protracted nature of conflicts and the broader instability sparked by civil wars have contributed to mass displacement beyond the capacity of the current international system. If left unaddressed, the rising levels of forced, protracted displacement will undoubtedly drive up the costs of sustaining the global refugee protection system, perhaps even exponentially. Further exacerbating the problem, climate change is projected to displace millions, and potentially hundreds of millions, in the coming decades (IOM, 2016). The growing divergence between financing needs and the resources available to refugee host countries is already undermining economic growth in developing countries as they struggle to support their own citizens and refugee populations. Simultaneously, international commitments to responsibility-sharing and cooperation are coming under strain amid a retreat of leadership on displacement issues.
While the Global Compact – specifically the refugee summits and global platform – shows promise, states are unlikely to make up current and future funding gaps, and ad hoc donor drives and pledging conferences are merely stopgap measures that fail to provide long term, sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the system. Unless new approaches to financing are developed, the global refugee response system will remain unsustainable and ineffective in addressing the needs of forcibly displaced individuals and the communities that host them.
The purpose of this workshop is to produce a series of guiding principles, policy recommendations, and best practices to be considered by the World Refugee Council for inclusion in its final report.
