There are more than 60 million people forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution worldwide – the highest recorded since World War II. The average length of displacement is now 17 years. This paper is a think piece on how approaches to forced displacement need to change if the world is to reverse this escalating human and financial crisis.
Four shifts are needed in assistance to: integrate the displaced into development policies to achieve the 2030 Agenda; shift from humanitarian care to building local development systems that benefit host communities and the displaced; legal, fiscal, regulatory and organizational policies that enable the displaced to contribute to economic and social life where they are; and support to host countries through new and additional international financial transfers that do not undercut existing aid flows to the poorest countries.
The think piece draws on collaboration between OCHA, UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and the World Bank, supported by CIC.