A year has passed since the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants on 19 September 2017. Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, supported by Oxfam, took part in work of the civil society organizations and the Action Committee with the aim of providing the mechanisms of accountability and control to the adopted documents. The declaration affirmed the responsibility of all nations towards refugees and set a two-year deadline for a global compact to be adopted that would translate obligations into reality. A year later, the refugee crisis in many parts of the world, including the Balkans, is unreduced, and the advancement of refugee rights and their integration into the host countries is still a major challenge for all countries.
By unanimously adopting the New York Declaration, UN member states have pledged to start negotiations that will result in an international conference on the adoption of a Global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. They also committed themselves to developing guidelines on treating migrants and contributing to a fairer distribution of refugees. It is envisaged that a global compact must enable the reduction of pressure on countries receiving the largest number of refugees, empower the refugees to become independent and enable improvement of conditions in the countries of origin so that refugees can return in safety and dignity.
A year after the adoption of the New York Declaration, the international community failed to make a significant step towards achieving the goals set out therein. Although the Declaration has been accepted by the unanimous decision of the member states of the United Nations, many countries have failed to align their policies with the goals of the Declaration, and the negative trend of adopting discriminatory and xenophobic laws around the world has not been halted. This lack of progress halfway towards the adoption of a Global compact can lead to the failure of a unique opportunity to adopt effective solutions and change the situation by the end of 2018, as stipulated by the Declaration.
In the world, at present, 65 million people are forced to live outside their homes, and half of them are children. In order to ensure effective protection of refugees, it is necessary to establish mechanisms for determining the responsibility of each individual state for the reception, protection and support to refugees. Oxfam’s research has shown that less than nine percent of the world’s refugee population currently lives in the six richest countries, while countries like Uganda and Lebanon have opened the door to millions of refugees. Those countries need to be provide with help and support. World leaders have not found a solution to advance legal routes, there is no answer to the resettlement requests, and neither adequate humanitarian or development funds have been established.
Aside from crisis in Syria and Afghanistan which were deepened, during the year 2017 refugee crises emerged in other parts of the world – more than a million refugees from South Sudan arrived in Uganda, hundreds of thousands of refugees escaped violence in Myanmar. The current process before the United Nations, initiated by the adoption of the New York Declaration, is an opportunity that the world must not miss. It is necessary that the ambitious goals set by the New York Declaration are fulfilled quickly, transparently and in cooperation with the civil sector.