Multi-stakeholder Pledge: Supporting Refugee Family Reunification

Overview

• Overarching goal: To ensure that every refugee can exercise their right to family unity and attain family reunification. Helping at least 1 million refugees reunite with their families by 2030.
• Leadership: Government of Brazil, Government of Portugal, RefugePoint, Cultuur in Harmonie, DLA Piper and the OECD, supported by the Global Family Reunification Network Advisory Group (FRUN AG).
• Pledge Pillars: Law and Policy; Support and Facilitation; Data and Evidence.
• Link to GCR: Objective 3 – Expansion of Third Country Solutions.
• 40 pledges currently registered from 47 pledging entities. This compares with 8 pledges from 8 entities at the GRF 2019.

Highlighted Pledge Updates

Complementary data from the OECD–UNHCR Safe Pathways for Refugees report show that in 2023 nearly 152,000 family permits were issued to individuals from the covered nationality groups, demonstrating a 14 per cent increase over the previous year. If this upward trend continues, supported by the efforts of pledge contributors and the wider FRUN community, the one-million target remains within reach.

The Family reunification Pledge Community Report 2024 highlighted significant progress toward the goal of reuniting 1 million refugee families by 2030. At the same time, recent political shifts and the spread of negative narratives and misinformation around family reunification have posed challenges to pledge implementation.

• Pledge implementation progress was reported by several governments, including notably the Government of Lithuania, which fulfilled its pledge to extend the deadline for refugees to apply for family reunification from 3 months to 6 months after the grant of refugee status.
• In the United Kingdom, the Government of Scotland reported implementing measures to ease barriers to family reunion and boost arrival and integration support for arriving family members.
• Similarly, the Government of Wales, in pursuance of its plan to become the first ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, funded the Family Reunion Integration Service, delivered by the British Red Cross.
• The Government of Uganda began issuance of birth certificates to refugee children, with around 151,000 issued already, and is working on the interoperability of the national and refugee registers to facilitate access to family reunification for those eligible.
• The Government of Brazil has announced progress in all elements of their pledge, including initiating studies to understand documentation practices, administrative adjustments to streamline and facilitate family reunification requests, and improving the clarity and accessibility of information on family reunification procedures.
• The Government of Brazil and the Government of Portugal demonstrated leadership and shared good practices in global forums on refugee family reunification, notably the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways in Geneva 2024 and the Annual Conference of the Global Family Reunification Network in Istanbul 2024.
• Through the network of FRUN members and pledge contributors, efforts to enhance coordination of service providers and systems building have advanced. DLA Piper created a map of existing partners in the family reunification pledge as an engagement tool to facilitate transnational collaboration between pledge partners.
• National and regional interagency working groups have been established and/or strengthened to improve cooperation, including the Interagency Family Reunification Working Group in Kenya and the Family Reunification Working Group in France.

Next Steps And Follow-up Arrangements

Through 2024 and 2025, the multi-stakeholder pledge (MSP) community met periodically to share updates and explore collaboration opportunities. These forums, organized by the pillar co-leads helped strengthen coordination across the pledge. The Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways and the FRUN Annual Conferences further enabled partners to meet in person, exchange experiences, and build meaningful linkages with other multi-stakeholder pledges.

As the MSP community gradually integrates into the wider FRUN network, pledge partners continue to engage actively in Community of Practice events, both as contributors and learners. Looking ahead, this growing global movement will play a vital role in addressing the severe funding cuts and shrinking resettlement opportunities and access to other third-country solutions. Innovative and scalable approaches to family reunification remain essential to achieving the goal of enabling 1 million refugees to access family reunification.