Introduction

We are living in an era marked by mass displacement. Conflict and persecution drive millions from their homes each year; over 60 million people worldwide are refugees, asylum-seekers, or internally displaced persons. Fifteen conflicts erupted or reignited in the last five years alone—while old crises remained unresolved. Forced displacement is not only growing, but it is becoming increasingly protracted. Millions of people are lingering in exile for years and even decades, and in many countries, third-generation refugees are born into uncertain futures.

Today—faced with a multitude of emergencies, a 70-year high in the number of people forcibly uprooted by conflict and complex mixed-migratory flows, often involving perilous sea journeys—we stand at a critical juncture. Government responses to displacement have varied significantly—most have respected the institution of asylum, although in some places, people seeking international protection face significant obstacles in accessing safe territory. States implement their own migration policies and border management measures, but not all of these contain the required safeguards to ensure that people who may be in need of refugee protection have access to asylum. The detention of asylum-seekers, including children, is far too often a systematic response rather than an exception to the rule. At the same time, regional cooperation aimed at strengthening refugee protection is growing, for example among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the Brazil Plan of Action adopted in late 2014. International commitment to refugee resettlement and other forms of humanitarian admission is considerably stronger than just a decade ago, and there is increasing recognition of the key role played by development actors, not only in supporting durable solutions for the displaced, but in building the resilience of host communities during a refugee crisis.

The root causes of displacement are becoming more and more complex—apart from violent conflict, they also include persecution, extremism, human rights violations, natural disasters, as well as, increasingly, the effects of climate change. Other emerging trends, such as population growth, urbanization, food and energy insecurity, and water scarcity, increasingly exacerbate these factors and leave people with few other choices but to move.

At the same time, flight itself has become much more dangerous. Displaced people face enormous risks on the move, often travelling through multiple conflict zones, where there is little to no respect for international humanitarian law. With few safe, legal pathways to escape violence and insecurity, refugees experience horrific exploitation and abuse from human traffickers and smugglers, enduring further misery. And while there has been an outpouring of support from ordinary citizens across many countries in recent months in response to refugee movements, discrimination, fear and xenophobia continue to prevail in some quarters, turning refugees into scapegoats for the very terror they fled from in the first place.

Today, international attention is centered on the refugee and migration crisis in Europe, where over a million people have arrived by boat since 2014, the majority of them from war-torn countries. But eight out of ten refugees globally are still hosted in the developing world, stretching the limited resources of the host countries and communities that support them. The demographic, economic, and social consequences of large-scale displacement are often dramatic, highlighting the need for strategic and complementary partnerships, as well as increased international solidarity and responsibility-sharing. This is most visible in the countries with the largest refugee populations world-wide—from Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey to Pakistan and Iran, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Taking in millions of refugees, often for very long periods of time, these states deserve adequate support from the international community. Bilateral and multilateral development actors should review their development cooperation policies to ensure that these countries are justly prioritized.

The articles in this issue reflect the growing complexity of human mobility and examine some of the major challenges facing us today: the significance of diversity in our societies and the imperative of effective integration; the need to balance migration management and mechanisms to safeguard the right to seek asylum; and the catastrophic conflict in Syria and its profound impact not only on global displacement but on regional and global peace and security. They...