Mustafa Alio, Rez Gardi, and James Milner

Alio and Gardi are Co-Managing Directors of Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT). Milner is Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University, Canada, and supports R-SEAT’s research activities.

To mark World Refugee Day 2021, R-SEAT asked prominent politicians, policy-makers, and practitioners their views on refugee participation. Their responses inspired this piece.

We’ve all read the headlines. Global refugee numbers are at an all-time high. Lives lost at sea. Borders closed. Hope fading. 

It is no exaggeration to say that states faced a massive challenge during their Geneva gathering in the last few weeks for the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the UN’s Refugee Agency. How can the international refugee system do its job ensuring protection and solutions for refugees? How can the system created in post-World War Two Europe respond to today’s challenges in a way that is effective and legitimate?

A big part of the answer is refugee participation. States acknowledged this in 2018 when they affirmed the UN’s Global Compact on Refugees, which recognizes that, “responses are most effective when they actively and meaningfully engage those they are intended to protect and assist.” Including refugees in designing policies that affect them and in delivering responses is not just the right thing to do, but a smart thing to do.  

This is what we have found in Canada. When Canada arrived for the week-long meeting in Geneva, its Delegation  included  (now for the third time) a Refugee Advisor and for this time the advisor was Maysoun Darweesh, a Syrian refugee now living in Winnipeg. This follows a commitment Canada made in June 2020: to meaningfully include refugees  in its engagement with the international refugee system. Not just because people should have a say in decisions that affect them, but in recognition of the contributions refugees make.  

“Refugees have and continue to contribute to Canadian communities,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told us last June. “They make our country a fairer and more diverse place every day. To benefit from their insights and experiences, they need to be part of the conversation, and that’s why Canada began including refugees as a formal part of our delegations to global summits on the issues that have affected them—the first country in the world to do so. When we recognize the ingenuity, resilience, and talents of refugees, we all stand to benefit.”

Refugees now constitute about 1% of the world’s population. That proportion is expected to grow close to 15% by 2050 as the number of refugees could top 1 billion. If we think our collective response is failing now, the situation will only become more desperate in the years to come. Refugees themselves are far more aware of the shortcomings of the current system than anyone because they experience it. They see the flaws in the system every day. This insight is invaluable in knowing where to start to fix the problems.

To tap into this insight, we need to abandon stifling stereotypes, perceiving all refugees as passive victims in need of help. Instead, we must see refugees as partners, especially in global policy-making processes. 

Next, we need to include refugees in the process of imagining new solutions and programs in a way that is meaningful, not tokenistic. We can’t invite a refugee to a meeting, ask them to tell their story, then get to the business of making decisions once they have left. For refugee participation to be meaningful, it needs to be substantive, sustained, and have the potential to affect outcomes. 

While this may seem revolutionary, it’s an idea that precedes  the system we have today. In his article “Refugee Participation Revisited”, published earlier this year, Tristan Harley shows how refugees and persons with lived refugee experience exercised significant influence and thought leadership in the development of international refugee law and policy making during its foundational years between 1921 and 1955. “These contributions”, Harley argues, “are significant because they not only reorient our understanding of the ways in which international law and policy pertaining to refugees has been developed and negotiated to date, but also because they provide a practical example of how refugees can more meaningfully be included in the creation of laws and policies that affect them going forward.” 

This view is echoed by Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who argues that refugees need to be, “recast as agents of development and their own durable solutions rather than as idle recipients of humanitarian aid.” He further adds that, “refugees and returnees can be agents of economic development locally, benefiting not only themselves, but also strengthening the local economy.”

For this to happen, we need to move beyond the dyadic, us and them — from refugees being the other to being part of a collective response. The Hon. Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador to the UN in New York, pleaded, “for too long, the “them-ing” of refugees has travelled with them from their home countries to the refugee camp. This must end. We must listen to the voices of refugees, and their victimhood and lack of agency must come to an end. That is the key to the path forward, and it must fuel both national and international policies.” 

But this is not something refugees can do on their own. Refugees need allies to help carve out the space for meaningful participation and to also demand that the skills, experience, and knowledge of refugees is brought to bear in the process of finding solutions. “We as former refugees are doing our part,” says Basma Alawee, “We Are All America” National Campaign Leader and refugee leader in the US. “But we need the broader community and administrations to step in and support refugee-led organizations/campaigns, and uplift impacted communities.” 

The system is starting to change. In Sweden, there is a local refugee-led annual forum that brings together Swedish political party leaders with representatives of migrant and refugee organizations, local authorities, private companies, and citizens. Brazil is incorporating migrant advisory boards and is actively encouraging refugee participation at the municipal and regional levels. France hosts l’Académie pour la participation des personnes réfugiées, which supports refugee participation in policy, advocacy, and governance. And, in November 2020, the High Court of Kenya ruled that refugee participation is a constitutional requirement.

These examples show that the value of refugee participation is being recognized by a growing number of states. In recent years, more than 30 governments have spoken in favor of refugee participation in global meetings, and some are considering following Canada’s example and including refugees in their delegations when they participate in global meetings on refugees. R-SEAT (Refugees Seeking equal access at the table) is working to support any government that wants to take this step.

Meaningful refugee participation is not just the right thing to do, it’s a smart and practical thing to do. Refugee participation is something that can be leveraged and mobilized to help governments respond to the global refugee challenge in a way that is effective and seen as legitimate by refugees. If refugees are part of the process, they are more likely to support the outcome. 

Imagine a day when states gather for global meetings on refugees and workable, rights-based solutions are found. Imagine a day when refugees find protection and solutions, and states support innovative responses that allow refugees to contribute to their societies. Imagine a day when we change the headlines to a good news story. 

Meaningful refugee participation can get us closer to that day. States should always remember that.