UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants discussions, commitments and follow up

Transcription

1 UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants discussions, commitments and follow up On 19 September, during the UN High-level Plenary Meeting on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, Member States and other stakeholders outlined commitments and made proposals regarding two global compacts, one on refugees and another on safe, orderly and regular migration. Both compacts are expected to be negotiated by UN Member States over the next two years. Prior to the UN Summit, Caritas Internationalis (CI) made several recommendations with the underlying thought that human rights of refugees and migrants should never be up for debate. CI urged governments to first and foremost give people a chance not to migrate, through increased spending on addressing root causes of forced migration. For those who do not see another way, governments are to invest more in safe and legal pathways to admission in third countries. Besides, the responsibility of high numbers of refugees and migrants should be shared among countries and special attention should be paid to IDPs as well as their hosting communities. The right to apply for asylum should globally be defended while non-voluntary returns, especially to wrongly proclaimed safe countries, ought to be ceased. CI also demanded that child detention would be abolished by this declaration and that governments would come together to battle human trafficking, exploitation and xenophobia. The Summit took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, and was co-chaired by the President of the 70th UN General Assembly (UNGA), Mogens Lykketoft, and the President of UNGA 71, Peter Thomson. Mr Thomson said the commitments expressed during the meeting must be swiftly fulfilled, the human rights of refugees and migrants must be protected, and racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance must be countered. This paper presents an overview of the main discussions and commitments of the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants and end with an assessment and some recommendations. 1. Major themes for debate Many countries underlined the need to address the root causes of forced migration. These include poverty, lack of economic opportunity and jobs, poor governance, inadequate development, conflict and instability, human rights violations, environmental degradation, marginalization and exclusion. Many addressed the plight of refugees. Lebanon reported that since 2011, over 100,000 Syrian babies were born in his country, over 50% of them were born in the last 18 months. It called on the international community to urgently plan the return, in safety and dignity, of Syrians in Lebanon to their home country; to set up burden sharing quotas for countries in the region and elsewhere and intensify the financing of development projects at local and regional levels. With regard to international cooperation, participants called for increased efforts to share responsibility, strengthen international action and ensure closer cooperation between countries of reception, countries of origin and transit; and closer coordination between humanitarian and development actors, as well as financial assistance. 1

2 While many highlighted the human rights of migrants and the right to move, Hungary said picking a country where you would like to live in is not a human right. Several countries raised the issue of child detention as a last resort rather than proposing a complete ban. With regard to safe and responsible migration, governments underscored the importance to address the dangers of migration by enhancing efforts against human traffickers and terrorism as well as to tackle human rights violations, respect international humanitarian laws and open more channels for safe and legal migration. 2. Actions and Commitments Several governments and others made pledges and announcements: China, Japan, Denmark and France said they intend to increase their humanitarian assistance budgets to help deal with the global refugee and migrant crisis, especially addressing the needs of Syrian and Iraqi refugees as well as those originating from the poorest African countries. The EC announced that it is finalizing agreements with Lebanon and Jordan to ensure safer living conditions for refugees in exchange for EU funding. The EC added that such compacts are also being developed with African countries. In the MENA region, Egypt reported that it enacted a law on combating trafficking in persons in 2010; is finalizing a law on combating illegal immigration; and has taken steps to provide rehabilitation services for young people seeking to migrate. Jordan said it has adopted a Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis The plan seeks to address the impacts of the Syria crisis without jeopardizing Jordan s development. The European Investment Bank (EIB) outlined the EIB Resilience initiative to support regions outside of Europe significantly affected by the refugee crisis with an additional 6 billion. The International Organization of Employers (IOE) highlighted that businesses need labor migration and depend on the integration of migrants into markets around the world in order to meet shrinking domestic labor pools at all skill levels, increase consumption, generate jobs and bring new skills and innovation to economies. The World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Environment (UNEP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) reaffirmed their support to humanitarian actors by providing adequate health care, sustainable energy resources and waste management, as well as addressing the root causes of migration and displacement. IFAD announced the establishment of a USD 100 million Facility for Refugees, Migrants, Forced Displacement and Rural Stability (FARMS), which seeks to support refugee communities by creating jobs and improving the management of natural resources. 3. Global Compact on Responsibility Sharing for Refugees On the global compact on refugees, Belgium said it should support communities in the region and focus on resettlement of the most vulnerable refugees, while the US and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it should address internationally displaced persons (IDPs). Kenya said it should address the root causes of protracted refugee situations, lead to equitable burden sharing and predictable financing, include mechanisms for reconstruction and rehabilitation around refugee camps, and support infrastructure in source countries to facilitate the return of refugees. Also regarding the refugee crisis, governments and others called on countries of origin to take back citizens that do not meet the definition of refugees. Participants also noted that the private sector 2

3 can help address the crisis; they also stressed the need for all countries to sign and fully ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention. 4. Global Compact on Safe Migration The global compact on safe migration will be negotiated ahead of an intergovernmental conference to be held in 2018 in Mexico. The chair for the related roundtable session said that the discussion was the first step in analyzing migration and, to secure consensus, the compact must support government and citizens in both countries of transit and destination. South Africa said commitments toward the global compact must be accompanied by tangible resource mobilization and concrete interventions by developed countries to relieve pressures on developing countries. The Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants also noted that migration can t be about keeping people out, and that migrants need regular, safe and affordable channels. He called for eliminating unethical migrant recruitment practices, adding that as long as smuggling is the only option for mobility, sealing the border and fighting smugglers are red herrings. Trade union representatives said that any new commitment on migration must empower workers to exercise their rights, and that the compact must give workers at all skill levels a real chance at family unification and permanent migration. With regard to many countries employer-controlled visa systems, he said, the pathway for migrants may be regular, but they still may not be safe. 5. The Obama Summit Following the UN Summit meeting, on 20 September US President Barack Obama, with Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden, hosted the half-day summit Leaders Summit on Refugees. Some 50 countries including the Netherlands participated. The Summit hosts called on the international community to increase funding for humanitarian assistance, offer opportunities for refugee resettlement and alternative forms of legal admissions, and facilitate refugees access to education and lawful employment. They highlighted that at least 17 governments involved in the Summit are committed to strengthen and adapt their policies so that more refugees can attend school or lawfully work. Participants commended the work of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for the new Emerging Resettlement Countries Joint Support Mechanism, which helps countries to develop systems to welcome refugees and support them upon arrival. They also welcomed UNICEF s Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies, and the World Bank s establishment of the Global Crisis Response Platform, which will provide grants and loans to low and middle-income countries hosting large numbers of refugees. In his remarks, President Obama noted that many of the world s refugees come from just three countries Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. He highlighted the situation of the low and middleincome countries that host the majority of the world s refugees, including Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran and Ethiopia, calling on all nations to share in our collective responsibilities. He welcomed the work of Mexico, Sweden, Germany and Canada in providing support for refugees. 6. Assessment and recommendations For the first time in history all UN Member States came together and worked on a more coordinated and humane approach to large movements of refugees and migrants. This is an achievement in 3

4 itself. With millions of refugees and migrants on the move and an epidemic of restrictive migration and asylum policies spreading around the world the UN Summit was well timed. It is too early to say whether the summit was a failure or a success. The action plans two separate global compacts are not expected to be adopted before The only outcome of the meeting was the adoption of the New York Declaration where UN Member States reaffirm their obligations toward existing legal frameworks that govern state responses to these movements. They promised to fully respect the rights of migrants and refugees regardless of legal status and recognized the desperate ordeal faced by millions of refugees and migrants forced to take deadly. They are committed to provide greater assistance and protection and promised to consider reviewing their migration policies with a view to examining their possible unintended negative consequences. But these sound like hollow promises given that negative consequences are not unintended ; they are the stated objectives of the restrictions imposed by these very states hoping that inhumane reception or detention will act as a deterrent, presenting migration publicly as a threat to citizen s employment, wealth, health or security. Countries restrictive policies continue to ignore that people will flee from war, human rights violations or in search of a life in dignity at any cost. The UN Summit was convened as the international community is collectively failing to respond humanely to large movements of refugees and migrants. During the Summit, states representatives from counties of origin, transit and destination of refugees and migrants made statements expressing concern about the situation of people on the move worldwide. Many called for the international community to work together, but very few walked the talk about the changes they are willing to make at national level, and none acknowledged the human cost of their own actions. While they make promises to uphold refugees and migrants rights, we witness continued human suffering: migrant detention, including of children, refoulement and push-backs, state funded border violence and the confinement of refugees and migrants in squalid camps. The EU-Turkey deal serves as an example of closing borders in return for billions of euros in aid. The building of walls and the outsourcing of asylum claims is central to EU deals with African countries. Such policies not only violate the human rights states say they want to protect but put people s health and life at risk. They dramatically limit people s ability to seek and enjoy protection and criminalize refugees and migrants. While governments are very quick to deplore the ill-treatment of refugees and migrants at the hands of smugglers, their own deterrence policies leave people few alternatives to escape and reach safety. As a two year-process of negotiations to adopt the global compacts leading to a comprehensive refugee and migrant response has now begun, Caritas Internationalis (CI) continues to urge governments to prioritize the essential protection needs among refugees and migrants. CI calls for good quality reception conditions; refugees and migrants access to basic services; abolishment of child detention; policies to combat human trafficking; and condemnation of deportations and forced returns to so-called safe countries such as conflict zones in Afghanistan and South Sudan. Developed nations are to be reminded not to use overseas development aid to pay the cost for refugees at home or in Migration Compacts with sending and transit countries. CI encourages the member states to use the compacts as an instrument towards greater responsibility sharing associated with large movements of refugees and migrants. It is regrettable that a commitment to the 10% resettlement quota of all refugees was not included to ensure action. Governments should avoid setting up camps and ensure access on arrival to adequate and affordable services. These services are to be sustained and expanded in protracted situations, including reliable information, health, psycho social support, education and accommodation. It remains crucial that the compacts emerge from fundamental human rights, such as an individual s right to make an asylum claim and 4

5 family life. CI welcomes the UN campaign Together: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All to combat racism and xenophobia through involving refugees and migrants with the host communities, as it will stimulate the world to recognize diversity as an opportunity rather than a threat. To make the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees successful, governments are to realize that we are dealing with large numbers of people in need of immediate, long-term care. This counts for all migration, worldwide: from Latin America to South-East Asia. World leaders are strongly encouraged to reach out to civil society organizations who work on the front lines as well as refugees and migrants themselves, to come the most effective and relevant agreements. While the practical details of these negotiations remain unclear, they have the possibility to put these issues on the priority list of states. Meanwhile, some of the measures can and must be taken immediately as the people suffering cannot wait for two years. This includes providing for adequate reception facilities of refugees in the region, creating education and health services but also employment opportunities also for host communities. The 2030 Agenda should urge governments to address root causes of forced migration and displacement and create the conditions for people to stay home if they want to. For the New York Declaration to become meaningful, states must respect their legal obligations towards people in need of protection. For safe, orderly and regular migration to become a reality, safe and legal channels rather than sealed borders and inhumane reception are needed. The response to refugees and migrants can no longer be driven by deterrence. The commitments made by states in the New York Declaration must be turned into radical policy shifts ensuring that the promising rhetoric matches reality. A failure to do so will have deadly consequences and make the UN Summit nothing more than window dressing. 5