Multistakeholder Pledge: Resettlement

Background

Within the framework of the Third Country Solutions for Refugees - Roadmap 2030, the objective of resettling a cumulative total of over 1 million refugees by the end of 2030 has been articulated. This can be achieved through targeted legal and policy reform to support new and scaled up resettlement programmes that are sustainable and that respond to identified needs and have maximum protection impact.

Pledge description

Funding and other infrastructure to support global resettlement activities:

• shifting to multi-year planning, funding, and quotas to increase resettlement programme predictability, efficiency and continuity, boosting the strategic use of resettlement;
• seeking funding and other engagement from the private sector and to help fill identified gaps and test innovations.

Policies and practices to promote equitable, needs-based access to resettlement:

• ensuring 10% of all submissions are unallocated places for emergency or urgent cases;
• increasing the diversity of resettlement programmes, accepting diverse profiles from more refugee populations and more locations;
• applying UNHCR’s needs-based resettlement criteria and/or eliminating restrictive selection criteria;
• supporting other countries to establish their own resettlement programme.

Innovation to ensure resettlement keeps up with emerging needs and trends:

• implementing remote processing modalities for interviewing and selection;
• establishing a mechanism for resettlement in case of natural or other disaster in a hosting country, which provides UNHCR additional resettlement quota or expedited processing to help meet a sudden increase in resettlement needs;
• establishing a mechanism (e.g. humanitarian evacuation and admission) to respond to sudden or unforeseen humanitarian needs such as large scale displacement, sharing responsibility for protecting affected people by providing viable pathways that are additional to and preserve agreed resettlement commitments;
• adopting innovations in registration, data sharing, technology and streamlined processing to facilitate timely departure arrangements and bolster resettlement departures;
• tracking, monitoring, and reporting on the degree to which the principle of additionality has been implemented.

Meaningful refugee participation to improve resettlement processes and outcomes:

• ensuring meaningful participation of refugees in the design and evaluation of resettlement programmes, processes and outcomes, with the aim of promoting refugee-centred resettlement procedures and outcomes;
• partnering with refugee-led organizations to conduct outreach and communication to refugee communities and diasporas for purposes of effective information sharing.

Pledging members will together advocate and implement relevant reforms to help achieve the outcome of 1 million refugees resettled by 2030.

Leadership

• RefugePoint
• Government of Australia
• APNOR

Supported by UNHCR

Joined by:

• Refugee Advisory Group to UNHCR’s CRCP
• Amnesty international (Australia)
• Government of Argentina
• The Australian Refugee Council
• Government of Canada
• European Commission
• The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
• Government of New Zealand
• Government of Norway
• Rainbow Railroad
• Refugee Congress
• The Refugee Council of USA
• Settlement Services International
• Government of the United States of America

Contact details

Alexandra Strang, Division of International Protection [email protected], UNHCR

Calendar

• August 2023 – Outreach to identify working group members
• September 2023 – Draft multistakeholder pledge; plan resettlement Side Event
• October – November 2023 – Plan resettlement Side Event; outreach to potential pledgers
• December 2023 – Global Refugee Forum
• January 2024 – Debrief