UNHCR submission to the International Development Committee inquiry: FCDO’s approach to displaced people

30 January 2025

Summary

This written submission to the International Development Committee’s (IDC) inquiry highlights the growing global crisis of forced displacement, which has seen over 122 million people living in displacement as of mid-2024, with a majority residing in low- and middle-income countries. The submission outlines how the climate crisis is exacerbating displacement, compounding vulnerabilities and jeopardising solutions.  

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, outlines key areas for consideration, starting with the importance of multilateralism and existing international frameworks such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) which aims to transform responses to refugee crises. The United Kingdom (UK) is encouraged to apply and promote these frameworks effectively, including through cooperation and responsibility-sharing with those countries most impacted by displacement.

In this respect, the submission highlights the importance of UK engagement in support of those countries hosting large refugee populations to ensure access to protection, and to encourage the inclusion of refugees in national economies and service delivery systems. Noting the role of climate change as a risk multiplier, the submission calls for targeted investments to support displaced populations in climate-affected areas. It also underlines the opportunity for the UK to tackle the root causes of displacement, and to pursue a ‘route-based approach’ that addresses the risk factors driving ‘mixed’ movements of refugees and migrants, through simultaneous interventions in countries of origin, host countries, transit and destination countries that provide real alternatives to dangerous journeys.   

UNHCR suggests that the UK seeks to leverage development investments in displacement settings, ensuring that humanitarian efforts are solution oriented and complemented by long-term development strategies. Civil society engagement is described as critical for effective responses, and this is in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) focus on equitable partnerships with local and national actors. Overall, UNHCR calls for sustained and increased support for programmes which benefit displaced people and their host communities, emphasising the urgency of the issue and advocating for strategic approaches to this global challenge.

Introduction

1. UNHCR is a non-political, humanitarian organisation. The High Commissioner is entrusted by the United Nations General Assembly with responsibility for providing international protection to refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons, and working towards sustainable solutions to their plight. UNHCR also works closely with States, UN agencies and other partners to secure protection and pursue solutions for internally displaced people (IDPs).
2. UNHCR operates in 136 countries including those from which people have been forced to flee, and those where large numbers of refugees and IDPs are hosted. Ninety-one per cent of UNHCR’s workforce is based in field operations outside its Geneva headquarters.
3. UNHCR welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. This written submission provides an overview of the global context and sets out some key priority areas for consideration. UNHCR suggests that the committee may wish to focus its inquiry on some specific regional situations impacted by large scale forced displacement and stands ready to provide additional written or oral evidence from relevant UNHCR experts and/or field-based personnel.

Background

4. At the end of June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide remained forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. These included 43.7 million refugees, 72.1 million IDPs and 8 million asylum-seekers. This represents an increase of 5 per cent, or 5.3 million people, compared to the end of 2023, and marks the twelfth consecutive year-on-year increase.
5. The global refugee population includes 32 million refugees and 5.8 million other people in need of international protection under UNHCR's mandate. Most of these, 71 per cent, live in low- and middle-income countries. It also includes 6 million Palestinian refugees under UNRWA's mandate. The increase in refugee numbers during the first part of 2024 was driven primarily by continued displacement from Sudan and Ukraine.
6. Two-thirds of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate originate from just four countries: Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. At mid-2024, the total number of refugees and other people in need of international protection from each of these countries exceeded 6 million – demonstrating that substantial advances towards stability and/or a resolution of conflict in even one of these countries could have a significant impact on total forced displacement.
7. The impact of refugee crises is felt primarily in the countries bordering those in conflict, with some 69 per cent of refugees and other people in need of international protection living in countries neighbouring their own. Of the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, some 66 per cent are in long-standing, protracted refugee situations and have been displaced for more than five years.
8. Climate change is an increasingly significant risk multiplier. As UNHCR’s recent report No Escape: On the Frontlines of Climate Change, Conflict and Forced Displacement sets out, three-quarters of forcibly displaced people live in countries heavily impacted by climate change. Half are particularly vulnerable, since they are in countries affected by both conflict and serious climate hazards, such as Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Syria. 
9. Latest models show that by 2040, the number of countries experiencing floods, droughts and/or dangerous heat is expected to rise from three to 65, the vast majority of which host displaced people. Similarly, most refugee settlements and camps are projected to experience twice as many days of dangerous heat by 2050. As extreme weather events and environmental conditions worsen with global heating, they contribute to multiple and overlapping crises, complex and recurrent patterns of displacement, threatening human rights, increasing poverty and loss of livelihoods, and straining peaceful relations between communities. At the same time, opportunities for sustainable return to climate vulnerable countries of origin are being jeopardised.

Key areas for consideration

Multilateralism and international law

10. The UK plays a key role in championing and upholding international law as an essential framework for addressing forced displacement and securing protection and solutions for those impacted. UNHCR welcomes recent public statements underscoring this commitment, including the Foreign Secretary’s January 2025 Locarno speech. The 1951 Refugee Convention, to which the UK is an original signatory, has helped save tens of millions of lives over several decades, including through its prohibition on refoulement, and is a central pillar of a wider framework for refugee protection that includes its 1967 Protocol and regional and domestic instruments, and international customary law. The Convention has over time proven to be dynamic enough to cope with evolving realities and forms of harm, and together with regional refugee law instruments and human rights law, can be applied to inform the international protection response to climate-related displacement.
11. The Convention also provides an indispensable framework for practical cooperation and responsibility-sharing between states on the basis of shared principles and standards, with its Preamble noting that addressing refugee flows relies on international cooperation. In practice however, the responsibility for refugees has continued to fall disproportionately on States hosting large numbers of refugees, primarily in developing regions. In the context of today’s global displacement challenges, the most pressing need is not for new international or even regional instruments, but for much more substantive and consistent application of existing ones.
12. The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), affirmed by the UN General Assembly in 2018, sought to deepen cooperation to address and resolve large-scale refugee movements through concrete actions by governments and a range of partners, both traditional and non-traditional. Building on existing international norms, the GCR seeks to transform international and national responses to refugee crises, with the aim of benefiting both refugees and the communities that host them. The GCR aims to ease the pressures on host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, expand access to third country solutions, and support conditions in countries of origin. A Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is held every 4 years to support practical implementation of the GCR.
13. The UK continues to play a vital role as a strong champion of multilateralism and an advocate for refugee protection and solutions at both country and international levels. This is exemplified by its vital financial support to UNHCR - and other UN agencies - including through flexible, unearmarked and predictable ‘core’ funding which allows resources to be applied strategically to address emerging crises and priorities. The UK also engaged in a meaningful and constructive way in the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF), fielding a diverse ‘whole of society’ delegation, led at ministerial level.  The UK effectively convened and mobilised others, including through co-leading a multistakeholder pledge on inclusive refugee education and supporting further pledges in the areas of: meaningful refugee participation in policymaking; ending statelessness; ending violence against women; supporting displaced Rohingya and the countries hosting them; safe and legal routes and resettlement places; integration of refugees in the UK; community sponsorship; building the resilience of refugee and host communities to climate and associated impacts; and conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding; amongst others. The UK also contributed actively to the development of the GRF, including by hosting a preparatory event at Wilton Park.
14. Active follow-up on pledge implementation, complemented by additional, targeted investment aimed at enhancing the protection and resilience of forcibly displaced populations and their hosts, through FCDO’s bilateral programming, advocacy and technical inputs, has the potential to secure real impact. Looking ahead, there is an opportunity for the UK to further its leadership on displacement issues at the 2027 Global Refugee Forum with the aim of leveraging significant global efforts and investment to build solutions to displacement. The UK may also wish to consider expanding its leadership role in the area of prevention, addressing root causes and preventing conflicts and escalation using political and other levers.

Route-based approach

15. While most refugees are hosted in countries neighbouring their own, some embark on onward journeys in search of protection and stability, often travelling on perilous journeys alongside migrants moving for other reasons. The UK is encouraged to deepen its engagement along key migratory routes, working together with other States to develop a comprehensive set of interventions in relation to ‘mixed’ movements of refugees and migrants. These should engage countries of origin, transit countries, and countries of destination, with the aim of assisting refugees and migrants to find protection, solutions, and legal pathways at the earliest possible stage – reducing human suffering on dangerous journeys, and offering effective, rights-based alternatives to externalisation proposals and practices.
16. This ‘route-based approach’ requires simultaneous interventions along key routes, rather than a set of options to be selectively taken up by governments. It includes host and transit countries, across the humanitarian and development nexus with partner countries affected by mixed flows through those regions. This engagement should respond to the immediate needs of people on the move and develop effective longer term protection responses to preserve access to safety for refugees and rights-based solutions for migrants. It should aim to build the capacity of state authorities over time, allowing them to increasingly assume their responsibilities in relation to migrants and refugees, with continued support from the UK and the wider international community.
17. Solidarity with countries along routes can also be demonstrated by scaling up resettlement commitments and complementary pathways for refugees, and legal pathways for migrants, and by providing access to information, advice and referrals at key locations – including on family reunification for both groups.
18. The UK can play an important role in helping to address the root causes of displacement, including by resolving conflict, strengthening good governance, ensuring respect for human rights, and supporting the fulfilment of commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Provision of support in countries hosting large refugee populations

19. The scale and complexity of displacement emergencies continue to grow, with UNHCR having responded together with its partners to an average of 40 emergencies per year over the last three years. Humanitarian aid, in support of national government efforts, continues to play a key lifesaving and life-sustaining role, and enables governments to provide safety to those fleeing conflict, violence and persecution – often compounded by other forms of harm.
20. As noted above, FCDO’s consistent provision of flexible and predictable - and therefore high quality - core humanitarian funding to UN humanitarian partners facilitates immediate, timely and at-scale responses as needs evolve. FCDO’s investments in ensuring that forcibly displaced populations and their host communities have access to basic services such as education, protection and health services respond to urgent needs and should be maintained and extended. These investments include FCDO’s bilateral programmes in countries affected by forced displacement, including cash programmes.
21. FCDO’s attention to particularly vulnerable groups in both its global level business cases with humanitarian actors and its country level programmes is a key strength relevant to displacement settings given the multiple, overlapping vulnerabilities in play. Noting that previous IDC inquiries have found that reductions in ODA over recent years resulted in cuts to FCDO programmes and negative impacts for vulnerable groups, it will be important going forwards to ensure that all funding streams which help to secure essential services for vulnerable displaced people receive sustained and, where possible, steadily increasing support.
22. In displacement settings involving multiple countries, such as the current crisis in Sudan, FCDO may wish to consider the use of regional programmes to deliver its bilateral programmes for displaced people in order to promote coherence and consistency; and to maximise flexibility in bilateral support for humanitarian partners to enable quick adaptation as needs evolve. Regional approaches to displacement can help maximise the efficiency of investments considering population movement trends and forecasts. At the same time, they allow for tackling root causes of emergencies or protracted displacement, as well as the response to the flight and its consequences – which is particularly important if humanitarian, development and peace actions are to be mutually reinforcing.

Inclusion of refugees in national systems and economies, and sustainable solutions

23. Recognising that forced displacement will often become protracted and that responses must be developed with solutions in mind, it is essential to address the over-reliance on humanitarian aid in such contexts. This includes strengthening –through financial support and other means – the capacities and resilience of host countries and communities. It means avoiding the creation of parallel systems and making investments in strengthening existing national systems so that they can successfully and sustainably include displaced people in local and national services, systems and economies in a manner that benefits refugees and host communities alike, and that can be sustained over time.
24. In order to mitigate an overextension of the humanitarian system and to shift to more sustainable solutions, UK embassies and high commissions can play an important role in advocating with host countries to include refugees in their national service delivery systems (for example the provision of healthcare, education, social protection and civil documentation), as well as in national statistics and sector level management information systems, planning and budgeting.
25. The UK already plays an important role in advancing refugee inclusion, including by building the evidence base for such interventions. In the field of education, for example, FCDO’s work with the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) programme shows a commitment to the continued building of an evidence base and how this is utilised to improve delivery across the sector.
26. FCDO uses both bilateral education programmes and its convening power in refugee hosting countries such as leadership in Local Education Groups, along with engagement with development actors, such as contributions to the Global Partnership for Education. This supports humanitarian-development coherence as well as the planning of financial and technical approaches to inclusion. This commitment is further evidenced by FCDO’s funding of INSPIRE which provides technical assistance to the World Bank to better design and leverage International Development Association (IDA) funding in advancement of education.
27. UK investments in the areas of education and governance in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence can also play an important role in laying the basis for sustainable solutions. Refugee intention surveys show that accessible, quality education is a critical consideration for refugees contemplating return and to sustainable reintegration.
28. Inclusion in national economies is also key. Studies show that giving refugees the right to work and freedom of movement can increase GDP. For example, in Kenya, hosting refugees increased Turkana County’s Gross Regional Product by 3.4 per cent.[1] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the arrival of Venezuelan refugees and migrants is set to trigger an increase in GDP.[2] In Costa Rica, Nicaraguan refugees and migrants contributed to a 6.5 per cent increase of the country’s GDP between 2017 and 2021.[3] Enabling forcibly displaced to access economic opportunities in host and return contexts can therefore be transformational, and the economic benefits can be an incentive for host countries to integrate populations in the medium to long term.
     
29. Nonetheless, legal barriers to access decent work are still significant in 75 per cent of asylum countries and addressing these remains a priority. Data and research provided by UNHCR and others has substantially strengthened the evidence base for advocacy on refugee inclusion in the labour market. For example, the World Bank’s studies on the economic impact of Venezuelan refugees in Colombia led to the Colombian Government’s decision to grant working permits. In the IGAD region, European Union (EU) and World Bank advocacy on inclusion contributed to the commitment by all governments in the region to grant access to education and labour markets to refugees.
     
30. Access to social protection is an essential complement to access to decent work in order to ensure that vulnerable groups such as those with caring responsibilities and the elderly are not left behind. Social protection not only enables particularly vulnerable displaced people to meet their basic needs, but also enhances their resilience to shocks and contributes to longer-term economic and social inclusion. Where displaced people are integrated into national social protection programmes, this can facilitate access to other national services, through case management and referral systems, in turn promoting employability and access to the labour market.

31. Given its country level presence and engagement in the multilateral system, FCDO is well placed to advocate with host countries for refugees to have access to decent work in labour markets in order to increase self-reliance and to unlock additional human capital. This will likely require attention to multiple interconnected factors, including ensuring displaced people have access to documentation and freedom of movement; advocating in parallel for access to social protection; and supporting interventions to stimulate economic growth and generate employment opportunities.

Leveraging development approaches in displacement settings

32. Forced displacement is also a development challenge on which action is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the principle of Leaving No One Behind. [4] Low- and middle-income countries host 71 per cent of the world’s refugees and others in need of international protection. The GCR emphasises the importance of development support in forced displacement settings, that benefits both refugees and their hosts, as an essential complement to humanitarian action.
33. Development investments are also crucial in areas of return. Currently, only a relatively small number of refugees and IDPs each year are able to return home (in 2023, 1.1 million refugees and 5.5 million IDPs returned home). Voluntary repatriation (of refugees) and voluntary return (of IDPs) should take place in conditions of safety and dignity, and is fundamentally linked to progress in key areas such as security and rights, and inclusive governance. Development investments can help create conditions for voluntary return, and to making returns viable and sustainable. However, the latest data from the OECD shows that ‘the largest share (96 per cent) of development finance for refugee situations was spent on hosting arrangements, while only 4 per cent were provided for voluntary return and reintegration activities in origin countries.’ [5]
34. The UK’s recent augmentation of its support to the World Bank’s IDA is a positive element in this regard, which can be extended further. Financing from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can enable gradual transition from humanitarian response to government-led development responses to forced displacement. Inclusion of refugees in national development plans and sectoral development plans in many protracted situations (noting that 66 per cent of refugees are in such situations) would not be possible without significant support by MDBs to governments to strengthen services, provide adequate technical capacity and enable sustainable support.
35. Further, MDBs have proved to be of crucial importance to enable policy shifts in host countries. Not only do some financial instruments such as the World Bank’s IDA Window for Host Communities and Refugees have clear policy objectives associated with the financing, but MDBs are also a strong ally for advocacy on key protection and human rights issues in host countries. The UK’s commitment to multilateralism and the reform of MDBs, as well as the UK’s strategy towards Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) can help shape the engagement of the World Bank, bilateral DFIs, and Regional Development Banks vis à vis host, transit and return countries in this respect.
36. Looking ahead, the UK may wish to consider a dedicated financial instrument for displacement. Several bilateral development actors have found it useful to establish such instruments and programmes for development in forced displacement settings, or ‘firewall’ a portion of their development assistance or fragility instruments for forced displacement. Examples include: Germany’s Special Initiative on Forced Displacement, established in 2014;  The Netherlands’ PROSPECTS programme which pursues long-term solutions to forced displacement, supporting resilience, inclusion and self-reliance;  France’s Minka Peace and Resilience Fund established in 2024; and the EU’s indicative allocation during 2021-2027 of 10 % of the financial envelope for development funding to actions supporting management and governance of migration and forced displacement.
37. Dedicated financing mechanisms like these have also provided welcome additionality of funding to host governments, who are understandably reluctant to borrow financing or divert funding from national to refugee populations. An additional added value of dedicated financing is the strong link with policy established in many country contexts.

Climate change as a risk multiplier for displaced people

38. FCDO’s strong focus on tackling climate change is a significant asset in displacement settings, and UNHCR encourages FCDO to use multiple levers to ensure that climate related investments, programming and advocacy are brought to bear in support of people who are displaced and / or at risk of displacement. This would include promoting accessible funding windows and mechanisms, with appropriate risk tolerance for fragile and conflict-affected settings, available to address the devastating climate impacts faced by forcibly displaced people and the communities that host them.
39. Additionally, FCDO is encouraged to use its bilateral and multilateral channels to explore how national and local policy frameworks that address climate change, including National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies and Early Warning Systems can incorporate provisions addressing climate risks affecting displaced people and those at risk of climate-related displacement.
40. In countries hosting displaced people, FCDO can provide and mobilise technical assistance and institutional capacity to enable readiness to absorb, access and implement climate action finance, and ensure accountability to refugees, IDPs, and local communities.

Role of national and local civil society in supporting displaced people

41. Local and national actors are often the first responders to large-scale refugee situations and have the most significant impact over the medium term.  Meaningful engagement and partnerships with local and national organisations, including refugee-led organisations, host community members, women, people affected by disability and other specific groups from the affected population are key to ensuring that actions aimed at supporting displaced people are contextually appropriate, effective and have sustained impact. This priority is reflected in the Grand Bargain which emphasises strengthening local and national responders in humanitarian efforts, and in the Global Compact on Refugees which sets out a ‘whole-of-society approach’, recognising the role of civil society organisations as essential and equal partners in the wider community of actors responding to forced displacement.
42. UNHCR has a longstanding commitment to build and nurture effective partnerships with locally led groups which is mainstreamed across policies and guidance. In 2023, 85 per cent of UNHCR’s funded partners were local and national actors, and 21 per cent of these were women-led organisations. Together, these local partners received 57 per cent of the agency’s overall partnership expenditure. Achieving this has required UNHCR to simplify partnerships and reduce demands on partners, including due diligence, in a spirit of risk sharing and capacity strengthening.
43. FCDO’s commitment to a locally led approach to development and humanitarian assistance based on mutually respectful and equitable partnerships positions the UK well to support UNHCR and other actors to further extend their localisation efforts and will be essential to achieving lasting impact for displaced people. UNHCR urges FCDO to fully apply the commitments set out in the Donor Statement on Supporting Locally Led Development (to shift and share power to ensure local actors have ownership over and can meaningfully and equitably engage in development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding programs; to channel high quality funding as directly as possible to local actors; and to publicly advocate for locally led development) in its approach to displacement. UNHCR further encourages FCDO to consider contributing to the GRF multistakeholder pledge on advancing localisation in displacement and statelessness responses.  

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