United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

Q1. How have the COVID-19 pandemic and the current food, energy and financing crises changed the priorities of your organization? 

The multiplicity of global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and current food, energy and finance crises have deepened existing vulnerabilities and have generated new ones, in particular for the more than 103 million refugees and displaced people. While climate, the lasting effects of COVID-19, and the cost-of-living crisis have all had grave consequences, the inability of the international community to prevent or resolve conflict continues to be the biggest driver of displacement. UNHCR responded to 37 new emergencies in the past 12 months, in addition to many displacement crises that remain protracted. Wherever necessary, UNHCR has, in support of States, provided protection and assistance, including but not limited to shelter, non-food items, and cash assistance. Together with WFP, UNHCR is striving to address growing food insecurity in refugee settings. While UNHCR clearly cannot influence global macro-economic trends, UNHCR is working to offset their harshest consequences. This includes traditional relief activities but also, increasingly, working with institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, so that they consider forced displacement as a relevant factor in planning their support to States, especially where the percentage of refugees and their economic impact is significant.

Globally, the number of people faced with acute food insecurity and in need of urgent assistance is rising dramatically. Refugees, internally displaced and stateless people are among the most vulnerable to acute food insecurity and malnutrition. The impact of the food crisis is generally analyzed and presented with attention to the most immediate impact on nutrition levels and on the related consequences on the health of food insecure populations. However, there is evidence that food insecurity has a much wider impact on the protection environment, with disproportionate effects on women, children and persons at risk of neglect and marginalization. Displacement, internal or across borders, often acts as a multiplier of these risks. UNHCR and partners have where possible and appropriate maintained and increased food aid, including cash programs, financing health and nutrition programs, supporting livelihood opportunities and activities that can foster resilience and self-reliance which are vital in food insecure counties, both as preventive interventions to address the drivers of food insecurity and as responsive actions to address its worst effects in the short and long term. It remains critical that responsive interventions in food insecure countries remain multi-sectoral and include a robust support to protection programs. UNHCR continues to advocate for refugee access to economic opportunities and means to achieve greater self-reliance, including by removing legal barriers to the right to work, support access to land and to financial services, among others.

On Covid-19 specifically, UNHCR has adapted its programming, updating online guidance and tools and expanding community mechanisms. The importance of advocating for the inclusion of displaced and stateless populations in national response plans including health systems and vaccination rollouts was and remains paramount.

As a result of the multiplicity of challenges, humanitarian aid is under enormous pressure. UNHCR, for example – despite a record level of income – faces a major funding gap this year in some – in some – of its crucial operations. Continuous bilateral and multilateral donors’ support to the most exposed refugee-hosting countries, in the spirit of burden sharing promoted by the Global Compact on Refugees is crucial. Such support will allow hosting countries to maintain the level of public resources invested in social protection systems, safety nets and pro-poor policies, enhancing the ability of poor and vulnerable populations, including refugees and other displaced populations, to cope with adversity.

For additional information and visual support, see these links:
Data visualization on the ripple effects of the Ukraine war. Out of the Spotlight 
UNHCR Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion
UNHCR, Operational Data Portal, COVID-19 Platform: Temporary measures and impact on protection
UNHCR, COVID-19 and refugees
UNHCR, Space, shelter and scarce resources - coping with COVID-19

Q2. How has your organization supported Member States to accelerate their recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda? How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations in these efforts to achieve coherence and synergies?

UNHCR is in contact with the UN Food System Coordination Hub. The national pathways developed by the HUB have been passed on to UNHCR’s Regional Bureaus. UNHCR will remain engaged at the global level and relevant FS Coalitions – including on the HDP nexus. Meanwhile, UNHCR advocates for our Regional Bureaus and Country Operations to engage in the country task forces (led by RC/HC with Government) on national food system transformation as this is very much in line with the Global Compact on Refugees and our agenda on inclusion and development.

Q3. Has your organization published or is it planning to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support recovery efforts from COVID-19 while advancing full implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels?

UNHCR's 2022 mid-year report analyses changes and trends in forced displacement from January to June 2022 among people covered by UNHCR’s mandate.

Please select up to three high-impact resources to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs. Selected resources will be highlighted to inform relevant intergovernmental meetings. 

Q4. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups to support SDG implementation and COVID-19 recovery at national, regional and global levels? Please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned. For example, what has worked particularly well as a model for effective stakeholder engagement? 

The Lessons Learned and Future Readiness: An overview of the UN-COVID 19 Socio Economic Response confirms the importance of a clear programmatic framework for an agile and a coherent UN Response. The Socio Economic Response Framework acknowledges that “some groups are more affected than others by the pandemic” and clearly identifies migrants, refugees, stateless, internally displaced and conflict- affected population as a specific category of at-risk population to be reached through the socio-economic response. The inclusion of forcibly displaced and stateless into national statistics exercises is essential to identify and address gaps in achieving SDGs for refugees and hosts. Tracking socio-economic outcomes for forcibly displaced and national in a comparative fashion is critical to inform optimal investments by development partnership needed to complement the humanitarian and hosting state ones.

Q5. In the 2019 SDG Summit declaration (GA Resolution 74/4), Member States outlined ten priority areas for accelerated action in SDG implementation. Please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted in these ten priority areas:

5.1 leaving no one behind

In Burkina Faso, where more than 1.8 people have been internally displaced as a result of conflict, UNHCR in partnership with The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law, and Terre des Hommes, surveyed the justice needs of IDPs and host community members in the capital cities of the Center-North (Ouahigouya) and North (Kaya) regions in 2021-2022. The aim of the study was to help the government of Burkina Faso and its humanitarian and development partners identify priorities for improvements of access to justice for IDPs and host communities in these affected areas, and thereby help achieve access to justice for all, as articulated in SDG16. The survey reveals that IDPs tend to face greater challenges in seeing their justice problems resolved; that the impact of said problems tend to be more acute than for the host communities; and that there remain important justice delivery gaps in the regions most impacted by forced displacement.

5.4 strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions

UNHCR promotes solutions for internally displaced persons from the outset of engagement while, simultaneously, strengthening their resilience, including through their inclusion in local and national systems and services and access to economic opportunities, and pursuing early engagement by development and financial institutions, to mitigate the risk of protracted displacement. In line with the 2030 Agenda and the principle of “leaving no-one behind,” UNHCR is currently working with partners to: 1) secure the inclusion of internally displaced persons in national services, such as education, health, access to livelihoods and social services, including social safety nets; 2) promote the participation of IDPs in local and national social and economic development, including through an enabling legal framework; and 3) build effective approaches to resilience and solutions that assist IDPs, wider displacement-affected communities and their governments to better manage and overcome the consequences and effects of displacement. In our pursuit of solutions, UNHCR also contributes to transition strategies that link humanitarian and development action, and activities that build and sustain peace.

5.9 investing in data and statistics for the SDGs

Through its Data Transformation Strategy, UNHCR continues to scale-up its capacity on data management, data governance, and the protection of personal data. Decentralization and capacity support to regional Bureaus integrates data and evidence-informed decision making. Engaging with and supporting national authorities, such as National Statistical Offices, is key to ensuring refugee inclusion in national statistics as well as opportunities to support authorities in their capacity development. UNHCR continues to highlight best practices on the SDG Gateway portals e.g. https://agenda2030lac.org/en

Q7. The 2023 SDG Summit is expected to provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development and follow-up and review progress in the implementation of sustainable development commitments and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, including through national and regional consultations, which will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs. In the lead up to the 2023 SDG Summit, please provide your organization’s recommendations on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, taking into account the thematic reviews and voluntary national reviews conducted to date. 

• The multiplicity of global challenges – conflicts, triple planetary emergency, food and energy crises - are disproportionally affecting 103 million refugees and displaced and urgently require a collective effort to find solutions and reverse the current trajectory. Displacement is becoming progressively complex, and its traditional drivers increasingly compounded with other challenges, in primis, the climate emergency. Fragile contexts generate and host the majority of the world’s forcibly displaced. Fragile contexts host 64% of all forcibly displaced populations, More than three out of four refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) originated from fragile contexts in 2021, whereas more than three out of five of them were hosted in fragile contexts. The linkages between conflict, climate and displacement and the need for bolder, out of the comfort zone initiatives to break this vicious circle has also been highlighted by a the recent policy brief Embracing Discomfort : A Call to Enable Finance for Climate-Change Adaptation In Conflict Settings issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Council of Voluntary Agencies, MercyCorps, ODI, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and World Food Programme. More than half of the 25 countries most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to climate change are affected by conflict. People living in these places have contributed the least to the global challenges but continue to endure extraordinary level of suffering. Yet are getting scandalously low levels of attention and resources.
   
• Inclusion of forcibly displaced and stateless into national statistics exercises is essential to identifying and hence addressing gaps in achieving SDGs for refugees and hosts. Tracking socio-economic outcomes for forcibly displaced and nationals in a comparative fashion is critical to inform optimal investments by development partnerships needed to complement investments by the humanitarian community and the hosting state.
   
• As set out in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), enhancing refugee self-reliance and easing the pressure on host countries needs to be stepped up while also redoubling efforts to expand durable solutions, especially in countries of origin. Finding durable solutions to displacement within countries is also critical, as underlined in the UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.
   
• The reform of the UN development system presents an opportunity for more coherence in the UN system work. Partnership between humanitarian and development actors to foster inclusion and comprehensive responses for forcibly displaced is essential to achieve the SDGs. The humanitarian community has acknowledged the criticality of HDP partnership - “the nexus” – within the IASC, the Grand Bargain, and other fora. The re-invigorated RC system, collaboration with International Financial Institutions, and synergies between humanitarian and development mandates have shown how we can leverage our respective strength to ‘leave no one behind’. We must be careful to ensure the development system steps in from the starts and actively engages and is ready to take on development activities alongside the humanitarian response as soon as feasible.
   
• Greater international solidarity and responsibility-sharing, two core principles underpinning the Global Compact on Refugees, are urgently required. Otherwise, the 21st century risks being increasingly shaped by the growing number and intensity of conflicts and a consequent rise in the numbers of people forced to flee, further exacerbated by exposure to climate change. The international community must therefore work together now to resolve existing conflicts; to help address root causes to mitigate the risk of future conflicts unfolding in increasingly fragile states; and to deliver sustainable opportunities at the scale required to allow forcibly displaced people to live in safety and with dignity.
   
• The shift towards localization and further engagement of national systems as well as local actors is critical to ensuring a more sustainable response. We must seize the prospect to support local action and identify opportunities to add value in contexts with existing national and local systems, reach new audiences and shift the focus of the response so that it increasingly fosters inclusion and solution. For the UN, this also means addressing the bureaucratic and administrative barriers which prevent funding and capacity sharing opportunities for local actors.
   
• The confluence of climate change and conflict has created very protracted displacements. Therefore, inclusion and — where possible — integration, both in refugee contexts and situations of internal displacement, are important peace building measures requiring greater international recognition and support.
   
• Responses to climate change must take into account both its link to conflict and the displacement it causes.
   
• Strengthening Peace building is key in reinforcing the preventing and responsive capacity of national authorities and government. Police, Judiciary, local governments and overall rule of law in fragile countries must be supported. Peace building is crucial in resolving displacement, by allowing refugees to return home, for example and, as equally important, to prevent the recurrence of conflict.
   
• Development actors must take more risks and boldly invest even when conditions remain fragile. The international community must overcome divisions and disagreement particularly when discussing the root causes of displacement. This is the only way to foster and sustain peace.