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A record 100 million2 have been forcibly displaced3 worldwide, and nearly half of them are children. Forced to flee their homes, children and families forcibly displaced are exposed to specific compounding vulnerabilities including loss of incomes and livelihoods, limited access to labour markets and (social) services, in a context of economic fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic, the global food crisis, high inflation and extreme weather events intensified by climate change. These vulnerabilities are further exacerbated for specific groups such as women and girls, elderly, people with chronic illness and disability as well as ethnic minorities. Forced displacement4 is increasingly protracted and requires linking humanitarian interventions with longer-term development and systemic action. At the same time, while de jure coverage may in some contexts exist, de facto access to social protection systems remains very low for forcibly displaced populations, for example when practical barriers such as discrimination, literacy, documentation requirements. It is inevitable that future conflict, environmental and economic crises will trigger additional forced displacement that will affect not only those people on the move, but also the countries and communities they move to. Two thirds of the world’s extreme poor are estimated to live in fragile, conflict and violent settings by 2030, which will affect not only people forced to flee but also the populations of neighbouring communities and entire regions.
Social protection is a universal human right, and a critical enabler to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals. This right applies to all – including those who have been forced to flee their homes and those who may one day return as stipulated in International Protection commitments5 . As we know from past crises, and as the current displacement crisis in Ukraine reminds us, social protection systems, in coordination within Strengthen linkages between Humanitarian Assistance and National Social Protection1 Systems for Effective Responses to Forced Displacements.
SPIAC-B Joint Statement, August 2022 SPIAC-B Social Protection Interagency Cooperation Board SPIAC-B is composed of 25 intergovernmental agencies and 10 government bodies. 11 civil society organizations act as observers.
For more information see: https://www.ilo.org/newyork/at-theun/social-protection-inter-agency-cooperation-board/lang--en/index.htm humanitarian assistance, can be effective in protecting and promoting the livelihoods of forcibly displaced people and their host communities. The triggering of the European Union (EU) Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) is an unprecedented act that allows for the timebound inclusion of millions of refugees in the European economy and society, temporarily addressing legal and operational barriers for access to labour, social insurance, social assistance, and social services. It also came with funding that incentivises countries to supply social assistance6 . It establishes a precedent for future large-scale displacement crises in that this has allowed several countries in Europe with mature and modern social protection systems to rapidly include refugees and hosting communities at a scale that eclipses traditional humanitarian efforts, whilst others have struggled under limited technical and financial capacities, overall adaptability of their social protection frameworks to this particular shock, or varying degrees of political will and public support.
In the wake of the fastest-ever displacement crisis, the response to Ukraine has mobilised an unprecedented and welcome level of aid and attention. Other forced displacement crises, however, remain unrelenting and humanitarian conditions are worsening at a rapid pace when considering the impact of the Ukraine war on global food security and inflation amidst continued climate shocks and global and regional tensions7 . The reality is that bulk of displaced populations are hosted in countries which are already struggling to provide adequate social protection coverage for their own citizens whilst dealing with complex, overlapping dimensions of crisis besides forced displacement.
Moreover, in certain specific contexts aligning humanitarian and developmental programming around social protection is not easy or even crises become increasingly protracted and sometimes last longer than a decade.