Bringing Refugee Issues to the UN in New York
On 1 April, LERRN’s Project Director James Milner, and R-SEAT’s Co-Managing Director Rez Gardi delivered a technical briefing on the global refugee regime at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations in New York. The briefing was developed in collaboration with Leah Zamore from the Zolberg Institute at the New School of Social Research.
Within the UN System, refugee issues are typically seen as an issue to be addressed only in Geneva. Given the evolving nature of displacement, however, coupled with the critical role of the UN General Assembly and the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in the governance of the global refugee regime, the briefing was developed to highlight the role of Member States in New York in advancing the objectives of the global refugee regime.
Representatives from more than 30 Member States participated in the briefing, which provided an overview of the history and elements of the global refugee regime, how the UN in New York has contributed to the evolution of the regime over the past 75 years, and how UN actors in New York, especially development and peacebuilding actors, can contribute to more comprehensive responses to the increasingly complex dynamics of displacement.
A prominent feature of the briefing was the role that advances in meaningful refugee participation can play in advancing more effective and efficient solutions for refugees. Given the role of participation of other groups in ECOSOC discussions, the briefing argued that enhanced opportunities for refugee participation in New York discussions would help ensure that the expertise of refugees contributed to outcomes for policy and practice.
The briefing was timed to help inform preparations for the ECOSOC Special Meeting on Forced Displacement and Refugee Protection on 24 April 2025.
GRF: Technical Briefing on History and Instruments​