1st Global Refugee Forum to kick off in Switzerland

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - The first Global Refugee Forum, co-convened by Turkey, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany, and Pakistan, will start on Monday in Geneva.

The three-day meetings will focus on six main issues, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement.

“Arrangements for burden and responsibility sharing, education, jobs and livelihoods, energy and infrastructure, solutions, and protection capacity” will be discussed by the refugees, heads of state and government, UN leaders, international institutions, development organizations, business leaders and civil society representatives, the statement said.

“We are emerging from a decade of displacement during which refugee numbers have surged,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees.

“This week, at the first ever Global Refugee Forum, we must focus our efforts in the coming decade on building upon what we have learned and committing action to support refugees and the countries and communities hosting them. This Forum is an opportunity to attest our collective commitment to the Global Compact on Refugees and rally behind the aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no one behind,” he added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also attend the forum in Geneva, and first lady Emine Erdogan will deliver an opening speech of a panel on "proactive approaches to reduce maternal and newborn deaths."