‘The Makings of a Success’: The Global Compact on Refugees and the Inaugural Global Refugee Forum

Abstract

Abstract The last five years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide, and a key part of the international response has been a multilateral and multi-stakeholder effort to develop an architecture to share more equitably and predictably the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees. This piece offers a reflective assessment of this regime-strengthening exercise – the key milestones of which have been the New York Declaration, the Global Compact on Refugees, and the first Global Refugee Forum – and assesses what has been achieved and what challenges still lie ahead. The Global Compact on Refugees is presented as the product of a ‘States plus’ approach to multilateralism that brought together a wide range of States, other stakeholders, and – importantly – refugees to fill a crucial gap in the international refugee protection regime. It seeks to do this by bolstering international cooperation with a view to enhancing protection and expanding access to solutions, building on existing and emerging trends, and laying the ground for future cooperation. The first Global Refugee Forum in December 2019 was an important and positive first step in the Compact’s implementation, but much more remains to be done before success can be declared. In postscript, the authors reflect on the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on the international refugee response regime, and the role for the Global Compact on Refugees in the response.