Attachments
SUMMARY
The issue of how the global community can effectively address forced displacement is prominent on the international agenda. Displacement levels are the highest ever recorded with roughly 65 million people forcibly displaced around the world, including over 21 million refugees, three million asylum-seekers and over 40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
One in every 122 people in the world is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. At the same time, displacement patterns are changing. The average length of displacement is between 20 to 30 years and 6 out of 10 refugees are in urban areas, in cities and towns across the globe. At least half of all IDPs are also in urban areas.
A series of meetings and events in 2016 have signalled the priority that governments, financial institutions and aid agencies are giving to the phenomenon – including the World Humanitarian Summit, and two high-level events held in September during the UN General Assembly. Habitat III also presents an opportunity to improve how we manage forced urban displacement in future.
The launch of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016 demonstrates a shift in mind-set amongst humanitarian agencies and development actors, who recognise that they are increasingly responding to emergencies – including displacement crises – in urban areas. Members of the Alliance are taking steps to translate policy commitments into changes in the way they operate on the ground.
It is incumbent upon international agencies, member states and other stakeholders to fully recognise that urban displacement is now the norm and to ensure that new funding, policies and operational approaches are appropriately designed and implemented according to where the majority of the forcibly displaced are located. There is a pressing need for international, national and local actors to work together to ensure their towns and cities are able to absorb additional populations in ways that are dignified, foster self-reliance and which address the needs of both displaced populations and the communities that host them. This requires managing protracted and forced displacement as both a humanitarian and development issue, moving from humanitarian responses designed solely to address short-term need to ones that also contribute to longer-term sustainable urban development.