Complementary pathways: a win-win for refugees and host communities

Modern migration systems offer limited legal pathways for refugees to move internationally. As a result, many refugees remain in places where few opportunities are available and continue to be reliant on aid with fading hope for a sustainable future. Unable to access migration options, others often undertake irregular journeys in search of safety and opportunities. Making safe pathways available to refugees saves lives. It can also help refugees restore what they have been long deprived of: their agency and the opportunity to use their skills, family ties and social connections to create a better future for themselves.

Opening up safe pathways is not only a win for refugees but also for the countries that welcome them, and all parties involved – employers, communities, academia and others. Countries that grant refugees work or study visas benefit from skilled individuals who fill workforce gaps, boost the economy and contribute to society, including by paying taxes. Those reunited with their families have higher prospects of integrating and contributing to their communities. Refugee mobility offers businesses a talented and dedicated workforce, while refugee students enrich university campuses with diverse perspectives. Refugees who depart on such opportunities often support their families through remittances and might return to their countries of asylum, equipped with new knowledge and skills. In addition to their life-saving nature, complementary pathways help ease border pressures, and combat and weaken the networks of human traffickers who take advantage of the despair caused by the lack of safe routes.

In October 2024, UNHCR’s Executive Committee unanimously adopted Conclusion No. 117 on Durable Solutions and Complementary Pathways. Although not legally binding, the Conclusion clearly expresses the political will of States to expand safe pathways as viable alternatives for refugees and others in need of international protection and was the first Executive Committee’s Conclusion to comprehensively address complementary pathways as a facilitator for solutions.

"We had consensus because all [...] Member States prioritized multilateralism over their national interests. And that’s where the power of humanitarian success lies; when you prioritize collectivity over your individual nationalistic interests. And because what is common across the border is always bigger than what is inside your border." Mary Namono Kibere Former Executive Committee Rapporteur and Minister-Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Uganda in Geneva.

The Conclusion recognizes the value of enabling factors that can make durable solutions and safe pathways a reality for more refugees. These include access to information, availability of machine-readable travel documents that refugees can use like passports to travel internationally, and access to education and training for refugees, among other things. The Conclusion calls for the coordination between development actors, international financial institutions and the private sector to offer education and vocational training opportunities to enhance the self-reliance of refugees and host communities and empower them to pursue safe migration options and other solutions.

"This Executive Committee Conclusion responds to all four objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, if it is properly implemented" Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR.

In addition, it highlights family reunification procedures as a way to preserve refugees’ right to family unity. It emphasizes that these procedures should be based on dependency, as in many cases family means not only biological relationships but also the cultural, economic and social ties between individuals. The Conclusion stresses the need to meaningfully include refugees and other displaced people in the making and implementing decisions that concern them.