As a result of conflict, violence, poverty or climate change, children, women and men may need to flee their homes. They may be displaced because of their race, religion or sexual orientation. They might be driven away by war or natural disasters – floods, earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires – or because of the slow-onset effects of climate change on their food security and livelihoods. Those who are displaced need protection and help reestablishing their lives.
Refugee crises demand political solutions. But the solution starts with ending the conflicts and persecution that force people to flee in the first place.
The world’s refugee crisis is getting worse and harder to solve. It is growing faster than the global response.
Increasingly, refugees are being used as bargaining chips in regional politics by governments that do not want to accept the bulk of the asylum seekers. This practice undermines the integrity of the refugee protection system and tarnishes the reputation of Western countries, which have a responsibility to share the burden of refugee flows.
The conditions of exile also affect the potential for conflict, with refugee communities being subject to exploitation and violence and having to live within a distorted informal economy (including criminal networking). Local integration enables refugees to become citizens in their host countries, but it requires more resources, time and political will. Resettlement is a more sustainable solution, allowing refugees to voluntarily settle in a third country and start a new chapter in their lives.
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