Refugee initiative

THE UN is hosting a twoday summit for heads of state to help develop a response to the ongoing refugee crisis.

It will be, as the UN puts it, a “historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response. It is a watershed moment to strengthen governance of international migration and a unique opportunity for creating a more responsible, predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants”.

Those words – “responsible” and “predictable” – define the challenge for the leaders, including our own President Jacob Zuma, meeting in New York. This is a global issue, and a humanitarian challenge. According to UN figures, there are 244 million migrants in the world, half of whom are children. Refugees running for their lives too often face grave dangers on their journey to safety. This was highlighted by the death of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned trying to reach Greece last September.

More than 3 200 refugees and asylum seekers have drowned attempting to reach Europe so far this year, with almost 300 000 completing the journey. But thousands remain trapped in Greece after being automatically detained under the controversial EU-Turkey deal, under threat of deportation. Those granted protection face an increasingly difficult task reaching other parts of Europe as countries increase border controls.

This UN summit marks the first-ever gathering of top leaders to discuss the difficult question of refugees and migrants.

The agreement that the UN will adopt – to be known as the New York Declaration – will hopefully be an appropriate response to one of the toughest challenges of our time.