The world faces a refugee crisis that will not go away soon. There are currently more than 65.3 million people displaced around the world—more than 20 million of whom are refugees (people who have fled their homes because of a well-founded fear of persecution and crossed a national or international border) and millions more who are internally displaced and who do not qualify for refugee status.
Displacement is primarily caused by war and conflict, but climate change also contributes by causing natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes that cause people to flee their homes. The United Nations and its family of agencies have a vital role to play in the protection of these people and their assistance in their resettlement or return home.
Refugee crises are complicated and there are no quick solutions, but the global community must radically change its approach to protecting displaced people and providing for their return or resettlement. The first step is to recognize that most displaced people need far more direct support in the poor countries from which they are fleeing than they receive now.
Richer states that have the capacity should resettle more of them. Last year, with a few exceptions such as Germany, they only resettled about 107,100 refugees—less than a tenth of the refugees who needed this help. This is unacceptable. We also need to stop using displaced people as political bargaining chips and put their safety and dignity at the forefront of policy discussions.