Today, more people have been forcibly displaced from their homes than ever before. Oftentimes, refugees are not able to return home for decades—20 years or longer. For refugees who can’t return home or safely remain in the country to which they’ve fled, it is crucial that they have access to resettlement and other legal pathways, like family reunification and labor mobility, to get to safety.
This impacts millions of people—the UN Refugee Agency estimates that from 2019 to 2028, three million refugees will access relocation programs—one million through resettlement and two million through other pathways. Millions more need and qualify for access to these programs, which is why RefugePoint and our partners are working to expand resettlement and advance other pathways, including family reunification.
As countries open up legal pathways, it reduces the need for people to risk their lives on dangerous onward journeys, and creates opportunities for them to rebuild their lives in the US, Canada, and other countries, where refugees contribute to their new communities and add tremendous value.
This week, from June 4-7, NGOs, refugees, UNHCR, UN Member States, the private sector, academia and other stakeholders will gather in Geneva at the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP) to expand refugee resettlement and advance other durable migration pathways (also known as “complementary pathways”). The CRCP provides an opportunity to engage in “open and frank dialogue and strives to produce positive outcomes by forging collaborative approaches to global resettlement” and complementary pathways.
The theme of the CRCP this year is “Solutions in Action: Advancing the 2030 Roadmap.” This theme refers to UNHCR’s strategy to expand resettlement and advance complementary pathways for refugees, which is outlined in Third Country Solutions for Refugees: Roadmap 2030. This theme perfectly aligns with RefugePoint’s work. We have long been a leading NGO in the identification of refugees in need of resettlement, and in recent years we have spearheaded efforts to create and grow new pathways, such as labor mobility and family reunification.
Marty Anderson (Chief of Policy and Practice), Jennifer Wilson (Director of Third Country Solutions), and Zack Gross (Associate Director of Deployment Programs), will represent RefugePoint at the CRCP.
Marty had this to share about RefugePoint’s role at the CRCP: “The CRCP continues to be an important venue for RefugePoint. Working on resettlement, family reunification, and labor mobility, as we do, we’ve found that we have a unique and important message to share about how to build and grow complementary pathways programs in a way that truly supports and complements resettlement.”
Pictured Above: Martin Anderson, RefugePoint and Ayan Said, New Zealand Refugee Advisory Panel. Photo: UNHCR/Jose Cendon