RefugePoint and Partners Advance Global Refugee Family Reunification Goals

Refugees fleeing their home countries are often separated from family and loved ones along the way, sometimes never reuniting again. RefugePoint and our partners in the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN) are collaborating to develop systems that help reunite as many separated families as possible.

What is the FRUN?

As the first global platform dedicated to refugee family reunification, the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN) brings together key stakeholders—including international organizations, NGOs, refugee-led organizations (RLOs), governments, private sector law firms, and academics—to promote and facilitate refugee family reunification worldwide. RefugePoint was one of the FRUN’s founding members and currently hosts and staffs the FRUN Secretariat.

How is RefugePoint helping to reunite refugee families?

We work simultaneously on direct services, field building, and systems change to help more refugees reunite with their loved ones.

• Direct services: We provide casework support to help reunite separated refugee families, including separated and unaccompanied children.
• Field building: We support other organizations, particularly refugee-led organizations, in expanding their programs to reach more refugees in need of family reunification.
• Systems change: We influence policy and decision-makers to drive large-scale change. For example, RefugePoint helped to lead the multistakeholder pledge to support refugee access to family reunification at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum.

Tracking Progress: The Multistakeholder Pledge to Support Refugee Family Reunification

The multistakeholder pledge supporting refugee family reunification aims to help at least 1 million refugees reunite with their families by 2030 by addressing legal and policy barriers, providing practical supports to overcome administrative and logistical hurdles, and gathering data and evidence on the need for and impact of family reunification. Forty partners joined the pledge at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum. RefugePoint was and remains one of the co-leads of the pledge, along with the governments of Brazil and Portugal, civil society partner and refugee-led organization Migration Inc. in the Netherlands, the global law firm DLA Piper, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

What progress has been made toward the pledge to support refugee family reunification?

In September, the FRUN Advisory Group – of which RefugePoint is a member – released its first semi-annual progress report on the pledge to support refugee family reunification, which includes updates from nearly all of the pledge partners. The report served as a rallying point for the community of stakeholders working together to support refugee access to family reunification.

Key points of progress include:

1. There was quantitative progress in direct family reunification services: pledge partners supported 8,165 individual refugees and 3,535 families with family reunification services in 2024.
2. Globally, there was a significant increase in refugee family permits granted, and notable policy and regulatory improvements from governments.
3. Meaningful advances in coordinated case support and information sharing allowed for better communication, collaboration, and access to accurate information.
4. Pledge partners reported stronger and more coordinated civil society advocacy to influence national policies.
5. Strategic litigation and pro bono legal support grew: cases addressed systemic barriers such as lack of identity documents due to statelessness, asylum seeker status, refusal of states to recognize certain passports, and onerous evidentiary requirements.
6. Legal training and capacity-building deepened across the network.
7. Community mobilization helped overcome restrictions and raise awareness.

 
The next version of the report will be released in 2027, just ahead of that year’s Global Refugee Forum, and we look forward to reporting at that time that we are more than halfway towards our goal.

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