UN hails ‘decisive shift’ in refugee assistance

The UN hailed Wednesday a “decisive shift” in the approach to helping surging numbers of displaced people, after a summit ended with billions in donations and concrete promises to simplify refugee integration.

The Global Refugee Forum, which opened in Geneva on Tuesday, saw high-level speakers like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambast the current lack of international solidarity in caring for the world’s some 26 million refugees.

But as the meeting concluded late Wednesday, the UN refugee agency hailed that it had “secured wide-ranging and substantial commitments” to turn the tide.

In all, it said more than 770 pledges were made for financial support but also for things like improving refugee access to employment, education, electricity, infrastructure and promises of more resettlement spots for the most vulnerable.

“Refugee situations are crises only when we let them become so, by thinking short term, by failing to plan or work together across sectors, and by neglecting the communities they arrive in,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement.