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Parliamentary conference calls for stronger international solidarity to protect refugees

Turkey conference

Some 300 parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, including 16 Speakers and Deputy Speakers, from over 50 countries convened in Türkiye on 20-21 June for a global parliamentary conference on migration, organized jointly by the IPU and the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye.

The conference provided an opportunity for Members of Parliament to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees.

The Global Compacts, adopted in 2018 by the United Nations General Assembly, offer non-binding cooperative frameworks for States to address a variety of challenges linked to migration.

According to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are 27.1 million refugees and 53.2 million internally displaced people.

The parliamentarians exchanged good practices, identified further steps that parliaments can take, together and individually, to promote stronger international cooperation and national implementation of the Compacts and relevant treaties.

Specific recommendations from the conference focused on turning international standards into national laws, stronger cooperation in regulating migration, including through enhanced regular pathways and freer movement, and addressing the root causes of forced immigration, drawing in particular on the sustainable development agenda.

The IPU has published four handbooks to help parliamentarians address the issues of refugee protection, displacement, migration and statelessness. displacement. Good Practices in nationality laws for the prevention and reduction of statelessness, Migration, human rights and governance, a Guide to international refugee protection and building state asylum systems and Internal Displacement: Responsibility and Action.

Watch also ‘A conversation with…Golriz Ghahraman’ the first refugee to be elected to the New Zealand parliament.