Hope and Innovation Amid Global Setbacks: The Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways 2025

Last month, RefugePoint joined hundreds of our partner organizations at the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP), held annually in Geneva, Switzerland. Along with UNHCR, this year’s event was hosted by the government of Spain and its national NGO partner Accem, who deserve credit for the leadership they have shown during a challenging time.
 

Diminishing Global Support for Resettlement

This year’s consultations were set against a troubling backdrop for third country solutions for refugees, as multiple governments have cut funding and quotas for refugee resettlement and other pathways.

In 2024, 116,000 refugees were resettled to 21 destination countries, and 203,000 new resettlement submissions were made to 23 resettlement countries from 90 host countries globally. These numbers are expected to fall dramatically in 2025, with an estimated 17,000 refugees to be resettled to 21 destination countries and 30,000 new submissions to 18 resettlement countries from just 66 host countries.

After the first Trump administration began dismantling refugee resettlement in 2017, it took several years for the global resettlement system to recover. By 2024, it had finally returned to health. However, the second Trump administration has moved more aggressively, and unlike last time, few if any other states are stepping in to fill the gap. It is unlikely that resettlement numbers will rise again in the foreseeable future.
 

Adapting Through Partnership and Innovation

Still, RefugePoint and our partners are not resigned. We are working together—including with UNHCR, HIAS, and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), our partners in the Equitable Resettlement Access Consortium (ERAC)—to adapt our programming to ensure that those refugees who need resettlement the most continue to access it. This includes a likely expansion of the role NGOs play in identifying refugees in need of resettlement and making referrals to UNHCR and destination countries—a strategic objective RefugePoint has had since our founding twenty years ago.

Through ERAC, we have developed tools and systems to support local NGO partners in key global locations to identify and refer refugees, and we look forward to building on this foundation.

Speakers and attendees at the “Pre-departure prep: making the most of waiting” breakout session on the second day of the 2025 Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways. Jennifer Wilson, RefugePoint’s Director of Third Country Solutions, presenting during the session. Photo: UNHCR

Elevating Refugee Leadership and Expanding Pathways

There were other bright spots at the CRCP, including high-level engagement and participation from speakers with lived experience of forced displacement, made possible through funding support by RefugePoint and partners.

The consultations also highlighted our work on skills-based complementary pathways, such as labor mobility and family reunification. Our recent investments in direct case support and collaboration with local partners in host countries were recognized by UNHCR as necessary and promising developments in an increasingly constrained space for third country solutions.

Leading on Family Reunification Through the FRUN

As the Secretariat of the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN) and a founding member of its Advisory Group (AG), RefugePoint conceptualized and co-organized three sessions focused on family reunification:

• One on pro bono legal support for partners working on third country solutions, whether through casework, legal research, or administrative governance;
• One on incorporating the principle of family unity into all third country solutions, to avoid or quickly resolve family separation;
• And one on improving monitoring and evaluation of outcomes in sponsorship and family reunification, with a focus on refugee-led research.

The Global Family Reunification Network Advisory Group also presented a soft launch of its first annual multistakeholder pledge report, showing that pledge partners have built a strong foundation for their activities. We have good reason to believe we are on track to meet—or come close to meeting—our goal of helping one million refugees reunite with their families by 2030. Next year’s data will provide even deeper insights into our shared progress.

Live animation during the “Securing Solutions over time: 30 years of the CRCP and beyond” plenary session on the opening day of the 2025 Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways. Photo: UNHCR

Preparing Refugees During the Waiting Period

RefugePoint also co-led a session titled “Making the Most of Waiting,” alongside colleagues from the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the CRCP Refugee Advisory Group. As the name suggests, the session explored ways to use the waiting period during immigration processes for cultural orientation and other preparatory activities that support settlement and integration.

The discussion generated rich dialogue on mental health support, expectation management, mentoring partnerships, language acquisition, and other essential skills.
 

Connecting Self-Reliance to Third Country Solutions

Finally, RefugePoint is at the center of emerging workstreams linking refugee self-reliance in host countries to access to third country solutions, particularly skills-based pathways.

The closing plenary session featured both RefugePoint and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative—a strategic initiative of RefugePoint—and highlighted how our diverse programming forms a mutually reinforcing approach to supporting refugees in their pursuit of lasting solutions.

Jennifer Wilson, RefugePoint Director of Third Country Solutions, Mediatrix Akinyi Onyango, RefugePoint Deployment Program Coordinator, Stellah Nikuze, HODARI Foundation, Kari Diener, Executive Director Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, and Fashingabo Chocho, Youth Voices Community, in Geneva before the official events began at the CRCP.

By Martin Anderson, Chief of Policy & Practice, Geneva Representative

Cover Image: UNHCR