{"id":1680,"date":"2016-11-15T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2016-11-15T08:10:31","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T14:10:31","slug":"addressing-large-movements-refugees-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/addressing-large-movements-refugees-migrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Christine Mangale, Lutheran Office for World Community, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been sounding the alarm bells on the plight of refugees and migrants for some time to call attention to the urgent concerns on populations on the move. There are approximately 65 million forcibly displaced persons, including over 21 million refugees, 3 million asylum seekers and over 40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). In 2015, the number of migrants passed 244 million[1]<\/a>. There are many reasons for migration, but in recent years, forced displacement of people is being driven by root causes such as conflicts, persecution, violence, loss of livelihoods and natural disasters. \u00a0Even so, all countries are somehow affected by migration.<\/p>\n

A refugee, according to the United Nations Refugee Convention<\/a>, is \u201csomeone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion\u201d[2]<\/a>. \u00a0The International Organization for Migration (IOM<\/a>) defines a migrant as \u201cany person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his\/her habitual place of residence…\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

The world keeps witnessing hundreds of people drowning at sea, exploitation and abuse of refugees and migrants and refusal of some countries to protect and assist them with the most basic services, such as food, shelter, health care, education, and safety.<\/p>\n

The international community was jolted to action in 2015 and for the first time ever, the United Nations General Assembly called for a high level plenary meeting<\/a> on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants. The summit\u2019s aim was to galvanize Member States to collaborate, coordinate and offer lasting solutions to protect and assist the millions of refugees and migrants. Civil society<\/a> organizations (CSOs), including faith-based organizations (FBOs), many of whom provide aid and services to refugees and migrants joined in to call for political will, solidarity and responsibility sharing to protect refugees and migrants on the move, upon arrival and during resettlement.<\/p>\n

The Ambassadors of the Permanent of Missions of Ireland and Jordan were appointed to facilitate the Summit process. Informal meetings and negotiations took place from February to July 2016. The negotiation resulted into an outcome document titled the \u201cNew York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants<\/a>\u201d which was formally adopted by the General Assembly on September 9, 2016, and Heads of State and Governments endorsed it at the High-Level Summit on September 19,2016. The Declaration commences a two multi-year process to prepare a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework \"un-summit-on-refugees\"<\/a>and a Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.<\/p>\n

CSOs responded to the outcome of the Summit saying \u201cThere is progress in this, but nowhere near enough. Some governments are ready with energy, practical solutions and political will to work together and with civil society, but too many governments continue to hold back\u201d[4]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC) collaborated closely with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in advance of the summit as part of a civil society action committee. LWF endorsed the committee\u2019s call for \u201cA New Deal for refugees, migrants and societies<\/a>\u201d and a subsequent Act Now statement and scorecard<\/a>. LOWC staff attended the Summit and is planning to be engaged with LWF in post-Summit follow-up activities in New York and Geneva. LOWC is also coordinating post-Summit follow-up with the Assistant Director for Migration Policy and Advocacy in the ELCA Advocacy office in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, CSOs including FBOs are playing significant role to urge the implementation of the commitments that the governments made. The following are advocacy and action asks to Member States that you can use to urge them:<\/p>\n