High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, 2017
The tenth annual High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges took place on 12 and 13 December 2017 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva Switzerland.
The two days of discussions were dedicated to taking stock of progress made and lessons learned in the process leading to the global compact on refugees, both through the operational-roll out of the comprehensive refugee response framework and the thematic discussions that took place in Geneva in the second half of 2017.
With the adoption of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants on 19 September 2016, the international community reaffirmed the importance of strengthening the response to large movements of refugees and migrants.
Together, the commitments agreed by Member States that apply to refugees reflect an understanding that protecting those who are forced to flee, and supporting the countries and communities that shelter them, are shared international responsibilities that must be borne more equitably and in a more predictable manner. With this in mind, the New York Declaration called upon UNHCR to initiate the application of a comprehensive refugee response framework (CRRF) and develop a global compact on refugees, which will be presented in 2018.
Through a combination of plenary discussions, thematic sessions and subject-specific roundtables, participants in the 2017 Dialogue reaffirmed the principles of the New York Declaration, discussed lessons learned in applying the comprehensive refugee response framework, reflected upon the key themes and issues emerging from the thematic discussions, and explored ways to ensure complementarity between the global compact on refugees and the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.
Additional materials
- Opening Remarks by Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Remarks by Daniel Endres, Director for Comprehensive Responses, to the Special Session on lessons learned and good practices in applying the comprehensive refugee response framework
- Video recording: Opening plenary
- Video recording: Special session on lessons learned and good practices in applying the comprehensive refugee response framework
- Video recording: Closing plenary
- Video message by Ms. Louise Arbour, Special Representative of the Secretary General for International Migration
- Web page: The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants
- Web page: The global compact on refugees
- Web page: The comprehensive refugee response framework
Written contributions
As with the other elements of the process leading to the global compact on refugees, UNHCR encouraged Member States and all other stakeholders to submit written contributions for posting online. The contributions received, as well as guidelines for those wishing to make a written contribution, are available at www.unhcr.org/writtencontributions
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