This World Refugee Day, Destination Unknown, a member of the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts (the Initiative), is calling on governments to do more for refugee children so they can live their childhoods with access to all their rights as children and have a bright future ahead of them.
Almost half of the world’s refugees are children, yet their needs are often overlooked, poorly understood, and insufficiently met.
Too often, measures to support refugees or respond to refugee situations do not take into consideration the distinct needs of children in all their diversity.
The 2023 Global Refugee Forum is a timely opportunity for governments to make commitments with and for children to ensure that the rights of refugee and displaced children are upheld.
This will be the second such meeting which takes place every 4 years during which governments and other stakeholders review progress and plans for implementing the Global Compact on Refugees.
The Initiative has developed a framework for a pledge for children – it is a framework to inspire and unite governments and organisations working with refugees to make unique but complementary commitments for the inclusion, protection and empowerment of refugee children.
The Global Compact on Refugees contains many important and positive provisions for children. If these are put into action, it will make a real and tangible difference to the lives of refugee and displaced children and young people and host communities.
Partnering with children, supporting them to meaningfully participate, and providing a safe space for them to contribute and inform policies and practices is not only essential to uphold children's right to participate - it will also lead to more effective and sustainable interventions.
It is time to act and put children at the heart of refugee responses. Join us and call on governments to pledge to partner with children to support refugee children as children first and foremost, and to meet their needs holistically.
Would you like to know more about the Global Compact on Refugees?
Explore Destination Unknown’s Guide on child rights and the refugee and migration compacts
Check out the Initiative’s youth-friendly guide to the refugee and migration compacts
