GENEVA

With over $2.2 billion in pledges to enhance the lives of refugees and support host countries, the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva closed on Friday.

The three-day forum, which was attended by over 4,200 participants from 168 countries, got over 1,600 pledges, more than the 2019 forum.

"What impressed me more than the number of pledges, was their quality – the concrete measures and joined-up commitments that you have all promised to do in the service of refugees and those who host them," UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said during his closing remarks.

"To ease pressure on hosts; to enhance refugee self-reliance; to expand third-country solutions; and to step up work in countries of origin - the four pillars of the Global Compact," Grandi said and added that this shows the "transformative power of multilateralism, grounded in a multi-stakeholder whole-of-society pledging approach."

He also made a "very special" plea for support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), saying the desperate needs in Gaza must be fully funded.

"Please do everything you can to help," he urged.

While financial commitments are totaling over $2.2 billion, the states also pledged to resettle one million refugees by 2030.

Resources to support refugees under enormous strain

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that "the resources to support refugees are under enormous strain, especially in the global south - which continues to host and welcome the overwhelming majority of refugees."

In his virtual remarks during the closing ceremony of the forum, Guterres said that the humanitarian "nightmares" from the Sahel to Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and Somalia, to the "utter devastation we are witnessing in Gaza," have displaced 114 million people in 2023.

"Protection and help for refugees should not be a lottery or a disproportionate burden that falls on a few countries and communities based on their geographic location," he said and urged: "It is an obligation shared by all of humanity."

Calling the states to match the generosity of host countries and communities with "far greater international solidarity and support at the regional and global levels," he stressed that the world must create the conditions for peace so refugees can return safely to their homes.

The secretary-general said: "This year’s pledges and commitments breathe life into the great promise of the Global Compact on Refugees not only to support refugees but to ease pressure on host countries and tackle the systemic issues that cause people to flee in the first place."

"They also give me hope that we can forge global consensus to address, once and for all, the great challenges of our time that are fueling the refugee crisis," Guterres added.

The Global Refugee Forum is the largest quadrennial international meeting on refugee issues.

It is co-convened by five states – Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan, and Uganda – and co-hosted by Switzerland and the UNHCR.

With refugee numbers rising due to armed conflicts, environmental pressures, and natural disasters, among other factors, this year's forum will work to address a growing number of international issues.