1International consensus on a new humanitarian agenda
11.In May 2016, representatives of 180 UN member states, including 55 heads of state and government25 and hundreds of civil society, NGO, private sector and academic representatives met in Istanbul at the World Humanitarian Summit to consider and agree a new approach to humanitarian assistance and relief. Amongst the participants, Bangladesh, Burma and the UK were represented. The commitments arising out of the Summit of particular relevance to this report, included undertakings to:
- use global leadership to prevent and end conflicts, focusing more on tackling the root causes of conflict;
- empower the affected people to drive their own response to crises, in particular, women and girls, children and youth, older people, and people with disabilities;
- take concrete action to protect against sexual and gender-based violence, providing support to the survivors of such crimes when they do occur;
- transform humanitarian action so that it is fit to address the scale, complexity, and duration of modern crises using principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence;
- uphold the norms that safeguard humanity:
- humanitarian principles;
- International Humanitarian Law;
- the Charter of the United Nations; and
- the standards of treatment of civilians, and medical personnel and facilities, in conflict situations.
- leave no one behind:
- enabling displaced people to receive protection and assistance close to their homes;
- providing opportunities for earning and learning at all levels as well as health services for refugees and host communities;
- reaffirming the institution of asylum and the principle of non-refoulement (no return to abuse and discrimination);
- relieving some of the pressures on host countries by expanding means of resettlement and admission for refugees;
- focusing more on reconciliation between and among communities in conflict, supporting safe, dignified, and durable solutions for refugees and internally displaced persons while recognising that voluntary return to the places of origin under stable conditions is the overarching goal; and
- strengthening national and local capacities in these different contexts.
- shift from delivering aid to ending need, recognising the value of humanitarian relief and development work to be mutually reinforcing and interrelated and
- finally, invest in humanity:
- recognising the need to make effective use of financing instruments such as pooled funds for humanitarian assistance;
- recognising the need to secure commitments to tackle unprecedented forced displacement and to match lifesaving assistance with longer-term support for livelihoods and education;
- recognising the principle of responsibility-sharing in humanitarian response;
- promoting migration that is safe, regular, and orderly; and
- recognising the importance of initiatives launched by the World Bank Group,26 regional and international development banks, and other international financial institutions as they refocus and apply new tools to better address protracted, recurrent, and predictable crises.27
12.On September 19, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a further set of commitments to enhance the protection of refugees and migrants. These commitments are known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. The New York Declaration reaffirms the importance of the international refugee regime and represents a commitment by all UN Member States to strengthen and enhance mechanisms to protect people on the move. These include commitments to:
- protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status, including the rights of women and girls and promoting their full, equal and meaningful participation in finding solutions;
- ensure that all refugee and migrant children are receiving education within a few months of arrival;
- prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence;
- support those countries rescuing, receiving and hosting large numbers of refugees and migrants;
- work towards ending the practice of detaining children for the purposes of determining their migration status;
- strongly condemn xenophobia against refugees and migrants and support a global campaign to counter it;
- strengthen the positive contributions made by migrants to economic and social development in their host countries;
- improve the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance to those countries most affected, including through innovative multilateral financial solutions, with the goal of closing all funding gaps;
- implement a comprehensive refugee response, based on a new framework that sets out the responsibility of Member States, civil society partners and the UN system, whenever there is a large movement of refugees or a protracted refugee situation;
- find new homes for all refugees identified by UNHCR as needing resettlement; and expand the opportunities for refugees to relocate to other countries through, for example, labour mobility or education schemes; and
- strengthen the global governance of migration by bringing the International Organization for Migration into the UN system.28
13.It seemed unlikely that the world would encounter a case that would test the majority of these new commitments and principles as comprehensively as the Rohingya crisis. Unfortunately, this test arrived all too soon.
25 Rt Hon Justine Greening MP, then Secretary of State for International Development, headed the UK delegation.
26 There was a particular welcome for the World Bank’s financing initiatives to support refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon in recognition of the global public good that countries with large refugee populations provide across Africa and Asia and a commitment to explore additional financing with countries that have large refugee populations.
27 World Humanitarian Summit Political Communique, November 2016
28 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, 19 September 2016
15 January 2018