September 16, 2016 — As world leaders converge at the United Nations for the upcoming summits, “Addressing the Large Movements of Refuges and Migrants” and the President Obama-convened “Leaders’ Summit on Refugees,” the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is urging concrete, collective action from the international community to take bold action to address the global refugee crisis.
Refugees and displaced people are the greatest victims of failed political leadership around the world today. In host countries and in the hands of smugglers refugees are at the sharp end of painful neglect. We are well past the time for analyzing the status quo. It needs to be changed.
The fear of refugee flows - and the toxic political rhetoric of the last year - will only increase if refugees are scapegoated rather than helped. Compassion allied to competent administration is a winning combination. The last year has seen extraordinary commitment by local people and elected officials - from Lesvos to Hamburg to Dallas, but also in Mafraq in northern Jordan, in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, as well as in countries like Uganda and Pakistan. Safe refuge for the world’s most vulnerable is right, practical and smart.
These Summits must go beyond stating challenges. They must expand resources, modernise systems, update strategies and combat the fatigue of refugees and receiving populations alike."
— David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, violence and persecution and one in every 113 people in the world are now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. Given this staggering reality, concrete, actionable and time-bound commitments are needed to address their needs and modernise the humanitarian system to deliver better aid.
The IRC calls for bolder responsibility around three mutually reinforcing pillars:
- More robust and long-term support to host states;
- State policies that promote greater self-reliance and solutions; and
- Increased use of resettlement and alternative forms of admissions to other states.
- The IRC also calls for 10 percent of refugees worldwide to be resettled over the next three years. The White House letter spearheaded by the IRC and signed by more than 130 groups urged President Obama to demonstrate global leadership by making bold new commitments to refugee protection, assistance and solutions, including increased U.S. resettlement. The recent announcement of the Administration’s intent to resettle 110,000 refugees in 2017 (up from 85,000 this year) is good progress, but remains a small fraction of the global need.
Please email communications@rescue.org to arrange an interview with an IRC spokesperson.