UK aid for refugee host countries

The UN’s Global Refugee Forum is taking place in December 2023. This is a key opportunity for the international community to work towards implementing previously agreed initiatives and pledges and to find solutions to the issues that are holding up progress. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Ministers are currently considering what pledges they will bring to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum.

Before the Forum, the UK Government should use its diplomatic relations with the Forum co-hosts, Republic of Colombia, Japan, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, France, the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Uganda, the Swiss Confederation, the UNHCR and other refugee hosting countries to develop effective, measurable pledges for action.

To maintain international credibility on refugee issues, the UK Government should ensure that the UK has fulfilled its commitments under the Global Refugee Compact.

The UK Government has adopted an approach in Jordan and Lebanon that incorporates the needs of the host community in its refugee response programming. It should use the Global Refugee Forum to advocate humanitarian response plans that distribute assistance according to vulnerability rather than someone’s immigration status. It must ensure that future responses to displacement crises adopt a trauma- sensitive approach to avoid retraumatising individuals and to provide psychological support.

The UK Government should use the Forum to push for action on the commitments set out in the Grand Bargain which was agreed at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 to: increase and support multi-year investment in the institutional capacities of local and national responders, including preparedness, response and co- ordination capacities, especially in fragile contexts and where communities are vulnerable to armed conflicts, disasters, recurrent outbreaks and the effects of climate change. The UK must avoid imposing unsuitable approaches from outside on refugee host countries. Instead, it should work with local civil society organisations to identify and implement best practice for each context. It should recognise the vital role that municipalities play in providing support and services as part of a broader effort to shift power and resources to affected communities.

The UK Government should use the Forum to discuss with the international community what lessons have been learned from current protracted crises. It should advocate for a global strategy that can be extended over the short-, medium- and long- term, to provide predicable support for refugee host countries and embeds a commitment to find diplomatic solutions to address the underlying causes of the crisis UK aid for refugee host countries 23 from the start. The strategy should set out how the international community will support host countries to move from the initial humanitarian response to a long-term development approach that incorporates access to education, healthcare, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, social security, and essential infrastructure. It should also include recommendations on how to incorporate refugees into national systems rather than setting up parallel mechanisms for delivering essential services. This must be supported by long-term financing mechanisms that host countries can rely on when traditional aid provision tails off.

UNHCR surveys of refugee intentions indicate that most refugees wish to return to their country of origin, when it is safe to do so. Displacement crises will only be solved once communities have a safe and dignified route to return. Facilitating such routes must be strategic objectives of not only UK development policy, but UK foreign policy and diplomacy.