On February 18, 2016, Emergency Humanitarian Relief Coordinator and UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, welcomed guests to the United Nations in New York City for a special event entitled City Haven: People on the Move • Harboring the Displaced. The event highlighted the challenges and opportunities of responding to urban emergencies, including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the Syrian refugee crisis. It sought to change our perceptions of displaced people and propose new ways to ensure towns and cities are safe and inclusive places for all – including refugees and migrants. Referencing the urban context as it relates to both Sustainable Development Goal Number 11 and the UN Secretary-General’s five core responsibilities for the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit, O’Brien started the discussion by stating that, “we will commit to a concrete set of actions and commitments that will enable all – including member states, affected populations, civil society, and the private sector – to better prepare for and respond to crises, and to become more resilient to shocks.” In order to put these commitments in to practice, O’Brien announced that a new form of collaboration, the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, will be launched during a special session at the World Humanitarian Summit. The Alliance joins a diverse group of actors, who do not currently work together (including municipal authorities, urban professionals and humanitarian and development agencies) to deliver humanitarian responses in urban areas.

Las year Sahib* was evacuated from Afghanistan with his family to the UK. One year on, he writes about his journey, how he was welcomed into the UK, and what he found here when he arrived.

The Job Placement AmeriCorps is a one-year position responsible for managing the provision of services to assist new and recently arrived refugee clients to attain self-sufficiency through employment. Specifically, the AmeriCorps provides services that include employment preparation, job placement, career enhancement services and follow-up services. This position reports to the Senior Coordinator, Economic Empowerment.

In 2021 the IRC held cooking workshops for refugee and Greek women living on the Island of Lesvos in Greece. The workshops became a meeting point for different people, cultures, stories and memories. It promoted common experiences and mutual understanding through the universal language of food. The recipes shared, personal to the women who took part in the workshops, have been collected together as part of this cookbook. We hope you find a special recipe in this cookbook, from Afghanistan, Burundi, Cameroon, Greece, Iran, South Africa or Syria. They are all Recipes from Home. 

Meet fourteen-year-old Mariama. She’s been forced to flee her home in the Central African Republic because armed groups are threatening her village. She recently arrived with her family at a refugee camp in Chad. But that doesn’t mean she’s safe.

Since 2014, economic upheaval and political turmoil in Venezuela have caused 1.5 million people to flee the country, and this number is likely to rise as the crisis intensifies. Escaping devastating shortages, unemployment and soaring inflation, these refugees turn often to their country's closest neighbor, Colombia.