30 March 2016: At a high-level conference to elicit commitments on Syrian refugees, UN Member States pledged more places for refugee resettlement and simplification of procedures, and more countries offered to receive refugees and provide other kinds of contributions. The one-day meeting convened by the the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland followed the London Conference on Syria in February 2016, which focused on the financial needs in addressing the Syrian humanitarian crises and garnered US$12 billion in pledged aid funding.

According to UNHCR, Syria’s neighboring countries are currently hosting 4.8 million refugees, and at least 10% of these (almost half a million people) will need resettlement or other humanitarian aid to move elsewhere before the end of 2018. Within Syria, more than 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.

Representatives of 92 countries took part in the Geneva conference on 30 March 2016, as well as six intergovernmental organizations, 14 UN agencies and 24 NGOs. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed participants, calling on the international community to do more to provide solutions for Syrian refugees.

Discussions focused on practical arrangements for handling the refugee crisis and complementing existing resettlement programmes. At the close of the meeting, UNHCR reported progress in six areas: UN Member States agreed to provide more resettlement and humanitarian admission places, bringing the current total available worldwide to 185,000 places; some States committed to bring about family reunification, including willingness to ease procedures in such cases; some Latin American and European countries announced new or expanded humanitarian visa programmes; 13 countries confirmed scholarships and student visas for Syrian refugees; several States offered to speed up admission processes for refugees, by removing or simplifying administrative barriers; and two countries made important financial commitments to support UNHCR’s resettlement programmes.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the conference had established “a clear recognition” that countries must maintain solidarity and share responsibility for refugees. He noted that, in 2015, only 12% of refugees in need of resettlement – generally the most vulnerable, such as lone women responsible for children, and torture survivors – were actually resettled.

Earlier in March, UNHCR and the UN Human Rights Council expressed concern about an EU provisional agreement with Turkey on the return of asylum seekers. The organizations called for refugee protection safeguards under international law, and Grandi said the “collective failure” to implement measures previously agreed by EU Member States had worsened the crisis.

The UNHCR has outlined a six-point plan for EU Member States to manage and stabilize the refugee situation. It calls for: relocating asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy, and returning individuals who do not quality for refugee protection; increasing humanitarian support to Greece for managing the refugee situation; ensuring compliance with all EU laws on asylum; making available more safe and legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe; safeguarding at-risk individuals, such as unaccompanied children; and developing Europe-wide systems of responsibility for asylum-seekers, including setting up registration centers in the main countries of arrival. The plan was presented ahead of the EU-Turkey meeting in Brussels in March, and can be found in UNHCR’s 2 March proposal to the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU, titled ‘Stabilizing the situation of refugees and migrants in Europe.’ [UN Press Release on Geneva Conference] [UNHCR Press Release on Geneva Conference Outcome] [UNHCR Press Release on UN Secretary-General Comments] [UNHCR Press Release on Proposed EU Deal with Turkey] [Publication: Stabilizing the situation of refugees and migrants in Europe] [IISD RS Story on London Conference]