Global refugee summit focuses on unity for world’s refugees

Русский | Қазақ

As global forced displacement reaches unprecedented levels, some 4,000 delegates from 165 countries around the world – including refugee leaders, heads of state, governments, businesses and non-profit leaders – have come together at the three-day Global Refugee Forum (GRF) to address the urgent challenges and long-term solutions needed for more than 114 million displaced people, of whom 36 million are refugees.

Held every four years, the GRF is the largest international conference on refugee issues. The 2023 GRF took place in Geneva, Switzerland from 13 to 15 December.

At the Forum, a wide range of stakeholders committed to take bold action to ease pressure on host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, expand access to third-country solutions and support conditions in countries of origin for refugees to return home voluntarily, in safety and dignity.

Participants – including States, the private sector, international financial institutions, UN agencies, humanitarian and development organizations, NGOs, faith groups and others – have made concrete pledges and contributions to improve the lives of refugees and stateless people around the world.

Senior-level government delegations from all five Central Asian countries participated, with pledges submitted by the Governments of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic:

The Government of Kazakhstan pledged to:

• Introduce a refugee quota for its higher education scholarship programme by 2024.
• Provide foreigners with refugee status in Kazakhstan with equal access to medical care, employment, education, and social assistance on par with citizens and permanently residing foreigners by 2024-2025.
• Address gaps in national legislation and establish effective referral mechanisms, fostering a cooperative approach among responsible bodies to streamline the handling of asylum applications at border checkpoints, detention centres, and in cases of asylum-seekers’ irregular arrival.
• Establish relevant legislative safeguards to reduce statelessness in Kazakhstan within 2024-2025.
• Reduce the number of stateless persons through naturalization in 2024.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic pledged to:

• Provide access to legal aid for refugees, stateless persons and persons applied for the status of Kairylman
• Provide refugees with equal access to higher education opportunities, inclusive of ensuring that tuition fees for refugees are the same as for Kyrgyz citizens
• Ensure children have access to secondary education, regardless of legal status of parents or their registration
• Improve its Refugee Status Determination procedure through introduction of a database with advanced collection of statistical data
• Arrange for an automated exchange of information between state agencies to collect birth statistics in the country.

Pledges made by civil society organizations and academia in Central Asia include:

The Central Asia Network on Statelessness pledged to:

• Join the Global Alliance to End Statelessness
• Collaborate with Central Asian governments to enhance legislation for preventing and reducing statelessness
• Raise awareness about statelessness in Central Asia
• Collaborate with Central Asian governments to improve national registration and documentation systems
• Collaborate with civil society organizations and individuals in situations of statelessness

All five directly linked with the multistakeholder pledge: Protection – Ending Statelessness.

Maqsut Narikbayev University in Kazakhstan pledged to:

• Introduce a course on statelessness and refugees into the curriculum of Maqsut Narikbayev University in 2024.

The American University of Central Asia in the Kyrgyz Republic pledged to:

• Provide summer language courses for the refugee community.
• Capacitate Legal Academia on Refugee Law by including a Refugee law course as part of the regular curriculum.

At the GRF, 32 UN entities stepped up their commitment to refugee inclusion under a UN common pledge 2.0 that builds on the achievements of a 2019 pledge. UN entities agreed to support host countries’ efforts to include refugees and stateless people in national systems, such as health and education, and to boost refugees’ access to decent work. UN Country Teams in 49 countries participated in the UN common pledge 2.0, including in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan.

For the full list of all pledges from around the world, visit: https://globalcompactrefugees.org/pledges-contributions

Central Asia currently hosts 24,013 refugees and asylum-seekers, and 41,401 known stateless people. UNHCR stands ready to support Central Asian governments and stakeholders to implement these and future pledges, working together in solidarity to find lasting solutions for refugees and stateless people in the region.

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