Tower and Town, September 2017

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UN High Commission for Refugees

2017 is not a good year to be a citizen of a failed state, especially if the conditions become so unsafe that you have no choice but to cross a border.

The likelihood that the crisis that you fled from being quickly resolved is low, and you could spend on average twenty years waiting for a solution—either it being safe enough to return home, integrating in the country that provided asylum or being resettled in a third country. Going home (voluntary repatriation) is the most common solution for a refugee. The global refugee population hit its highest level for two decades standing at 22.5 million (including 5.3 million Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA) at the end of 2016. Statistics like these often make me wonder if famous refugees like Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google or Michael Marks, Co-Founder of Marks and Spencer, reflect on the good fortune of seeking asylum at a time in history when not so many people were forced to flee.

To respond to this crisis, world leaders will come to the UN to adopt a new way to manage refugee crises in the fall of 2018. This agreement about the new way to manage refugees is called the Global Compact for Refugees and is about responsibility sharing, increasing international co-operation and reinforcing the rights of people to seek safety when conflict or persecution forces them from their homes.

Addressing burden sharing is important, as 84 per cent of the world`s refugees under UNHCR`s mandate are currently hosted by developing regions. Lebanon continued to host the largest number of refugees relative to its national population, where 1 in 6 people was a refugee. Jordan (1 in 11) and Turkey (1 in 28) ranked second and third, respectively. The least developed countries provide asylum to a growing proportion of the world`s displaced. Uganda is being held up as a model for refugee protection. It is not only hosting 977,746 South Sudanese refugees, as of June 2017, but it has one of the most progressive refugee policies. Refugees go to school alongside local children, are allowed work and are even provided with a small plot of land.

To try and demonstrate international solidarity with refugees, UNHCR launched the #WithRefugees Campaign and Petition. The Campaign will run until the global compact for refugees is adopted and will serve to articulate public support for the commitments it contains. Our goal is to demonstrate this global solidarity to send a message to world leaders and decision makers everywhere to work together to help refugees. We hope to show world leaders that the public stands with refugees - and for that we will need your help.

The petition asks decision makers to:

• Ensure every refugee child gets an education.
• Ensure every refugee family has somewhere safe to live.
• Ensure every refugee can work or learn new skills to support their families

Claire Lamont