“The First Global Refugee Forum”, which handled the problems of more than 70 million people from all over the world who have been displaced due to war, violence and oppression, was held in Geneva, Switzerland on December 17-18, 2019.
The forum aimed to encourage all stakeholders to make purposeful promises and commitments leading to more concrete and long-lasting political and practical changes in order to improve life quality of refugees and host communities across the world; and to ensure Global Compact on Refugees as accepted in the last year is realized rapidly by governments, private sector, international institutions and organizations and civil societies.
Over 2 thousand delegations participated in the forum which was the held for the first time in the history for refugees, including refugees from various countries, heads of governments and states, international institutions, development organizations, leaders from business world, and representatives of non-governmental organizations and humanitarian aid organizations. Hosted by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Switzerland Government, the forum was co-chaired by Turkey, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Germany.
The First Global Refugee Forum consisted of six main titles as regulations required for sharing load and responsibility, education, employment and sources of income, energy and infrastructure, solutions and protection capacity. Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Executive Board and Hülya Alper, WALD Academy Director also participated in the forum. The Forum was opened with the opening speech of Antonie Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey who also co-chaired Global Refugee Forum made a speech and emphasized that other countries should bear the responsibility for solution of refugee issue, which Turkey has already been bearing alone for 9 years. Within the scope of the forum, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, T.R. Minister of Foreign Affairs, representatives from various countries and representatives of the Delegation of the EU participated in a session “The Syrian Refugee Crisis - Delivering in Partnership” and discussed international migration policies. Mr. Çavuşoğlu stressed that it is required to share loads and responsibilities more fairly for solutions to Syrian refugee crisis and they will maintain international close cooperations.
Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Executive Board participated in the session “Framing Education in Emergencies” and shared WALD’s activities and experiences on this issue. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced an approximately 10-billion-dollar commitment by states and public sector for refugees and participant governments promised to invest 3 billion dollars for refugees and provide shelter for 50 thousand refugees.
