Committees

The FCDO's approach to displaced people

Inquiry

2024 saw a continuing rise in global displacement, with at least 117.3 million people forced to flee their homes, including nearly 43.4 million refugees, around 40% of whom are under the age of 18. These vast movements of peoples, and the associated costs and disruptions, can cause significant problems in host countries.

Building on the work on long-term refugees by the previous Committee, the Committee intends to look at the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance spending on a range of activity aimed at supporting displaced people across the globe. A major topic of the inquiry will be the FCDO’s consideration of civilians at the beginning of conflicts, and whether the appropriate support and assistance is offered. Furthermore, the Committee will investigate the effectiveness of ODA spending on support for people displaced by climate disasters. The Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, now replaced by the Integrated Security Fund, was intended to consider these issues, but questions remain about its effectiveness.

Integral to the Committee’s inquiry will be consideration of the drivers that force people to flee and what forms of early intervention work to prevent displacement. Once people become displaced, the Committee wants to examine what happens to them as they leave home and how their return home is facilitated. Across all of this, the Committee will consider whether what the UK Government is currently doing to keep displaced people safe is working.

The Committee is also interested in the value for money of ODA spent on housing displaced people within the UK. Finally, the Committee will evaluate Government progress against the recommendations made by the Committee in its May 2023 Report, “UK aid for refugee host countries”, including on Government support for host countries of long-term refugees, such as Jordan.

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This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Tuesday 21 January 2025.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Tuesday 29 April 2025
2:30pm Public
The FCDO's approach to displaced people - Oral evidence 29 April 2025
2:30pm
  • Mónica Ferro (Director of London Representation Office at UNFPA)
  • Arafat Jamal (Afghanistan Country Representative at UNHCR)
3:15pm
  • Colin Buckley (Managing Director and General Counsel at British International Investment)
  • Achim Steiner (Administrator at United Nations Development Programme)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 1 April 2025
2:00pm Public
The FCDO's approach to displaced people - Oral evidence 1 April 2025
2:00pm
  • Daphne Jayasinghe (Director of Policy – Global Protracted Displacement Team at International Rescue Committee)
  • Bethan Lewis (Head of humanitarian unit at Plan International UK)
  • Gideon Rabinowitz (Director of policy and advocacy at Bond)
2:45pm
  • Dr Jessica Hagen-Zanker (Head of the migration and displacement hub at ODI Global)
  • Louis Hoffmann (Senior Coordinator for Peace, Recovery and Solutions at International Organization for Migration)
  • Hélène Kuperman-Le-Bihan (Head of MAG Europe at Mines Advisory Group)
Room 5, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 4 March 2025
2:00pm Public
The FCDO's approach to displaced people - Oral evidence 4 March 2025
2:00pm
  • Zohal
  • Belinda
  • Fatimah
2:45pm
  • Tinebeb Berhane (Country Director at ActionAid Ethiopia)
  • Katy Nembe Katonda (Deputy Country Representative - Democratic Republic of the Congo at CAFOD)
The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Contact us

  • Email: indcom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 1223 (general enquiries) |0207 219 8969 (media enquiries)
  • Address: International Development Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA