Assistance to Refugees and Their Host Contries Discussed in Geneva

On 16-19 December, Geneva hosts the first-ever Global Refugee Forum. The Forum is aimed at shaping a new approach to assist the refugees and their host countries.

The event brought together thousands of participants from dozens of countries: heads of states and governments, UN representatives, officials of international institutions, diplomats, heads of commercial companies and representatives of civil society.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterresh, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan addressed the participants.

In his opening remarks, Antonio Guterresh noted that the majority of refugees were hosted by developing and middle-income countries. They need support from the international community – both financial aid and direct assistance.

The UN Secretary-General highlighted that Global Refugee Forum was aimed at establishing framework for implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees adopted by the UN in December 2018. He said, “We need to re-establish the integrity of the international refugee protection regime, with the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol at its core… we need to reaffirm the human rights of refugees”.

The participants of the first Global Refugee Forum discussed the ways to attract additional funding to assist refugees and their host countries, as well as the amendments to the laws designed to facilitate integration of the refugees in the host societies. The discussions were also focused on the access for refugees to labor markets, public health and education. The issues of resettlement of refugees in third countries and their safe return to their homeland were addressed as well.

Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitriy Kobitskiy represented the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly at the event. On the margins of the Forum he met with Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union Houlin Zhao, Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration Laura Thompson, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization Francis Gurry, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia of the International Committee of the Red Cross Martin Schuepp, UN Under-Secretary-General, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Olga Algayerova and Deputy Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angela Li Rosi.

During the meetings the parties discussed the issues of their continued cooperation, including holding joint events and drafting model laws within the Long-Term Plan for Model Law-Making in the Commonwealth of Independent States for 2020–2022.