GENEVA (1 July 2015) – Each year the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) holds a 3-day consultation with civil society organisations from around the world to discuss pressing issues of refugee and asylum seeker protection.
This year four IDC staff are attending these UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs, including IDC Director Grant Mitchell; Advocacy Coordinator, Ben Lewis; Europe Regional Coordinator, Eiri Ohtani; and Middle East and Africa Regional Coordinator, Junita Calder.
The theme of this year’s Consultations is ‘Solutions’, in recognition that solutions are urgently needed for the more than 59 million displaced persons around the world. Indeed, the number of people seeking asylum is at the highest point since World War II. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, stated:
“By solutions we are not only referring to the classic durable solutions of voluntary repatriation, resettlement and local integration, but also to the broader sense of enabling refugees and other persons of concern to improve their quality of life and enjoy their human rights”
To contribute to this theme, the IDC is participating in a number of side events highlighting solutions for those impacted by immigration detention, including the 3rd Annual Roundtable on Strategic Litigation, a thematic side event on Community-Based Alternatives to Detention, and and update on the UNHCR 2014-2019 Global Strategy: Beyond Detention.
Follow the discussions via Twitter throughout the event @idcmonitor
