The world comes together to solve the refugee crisis for the first time

(Baonghean)- At the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Migrants, leaders of 193 UN member states adopted the New York Declaration to address the global migration crisis. This is the first time the General Assembly has convened a conference of heads of state to discuss the situation of migrants, demonstrating the United Nations' determination to play a leading role, calling on the world to join hands to resolve this issue.

From determination to decision

The determination of world leaders was demonstrated immediately after the opening ceremony with the adoption of the New York Declaration, which included commitments to implement a coordinated plan to address the migration issue more effectively.

The United Nations General Assembly convened its first-ever High-Level Conference on Migration. Photo: AP

The conference agreed to set three specific goals: First, to convince the international community to increase 30% of funding for humanitarian activities around the world, from 10 billion USD in 2015 to 13 billion USD this year.

The second is to double resettlement and find new legal pathways for refugees; at the same time, increase the number of countries accepting significant numbers of refugees. The third is to increase the number of refugees in school globally by 1 million and the number of refugees allowed to work by 1 million.

Major corporations such as Facebook, Twitter, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson… will also participate in achieving these goals by facilitating access to education, employment and finance for about 6.3 million refugees in more than 20 countries.

The New York Declaration that the countries have just reached is a political commitment, an unprecedented great effort of the international community in the face of the current serious migration crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized that this declaration demonstrates the determination of the United Nations in joining forces with all partners to implement common commitments.

Meanwhile, Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the declaration filled a long-standing gap in the international protection system, and was “a true sharing of responsibility for migrants in accordance with the spirit of the UN Charter”. To translate the commitments in the New York Declaration into practical action, the United Nations has also officially launched a new campaign called “Respect, Safety and Dignity for All”.

Commitment from the "big guys"

After the New York Declaration was adopted, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on countries to seriously implement this declaration, thereby creating a stable mechanism to resolve the migration situation, not allowing the current flow of migrants to push the world to the brink of new political, economic and social crises. The fact that 50 countries have pledged to receive 360,000 refugees this year - double the number of last year - is considered the first positive signal after the UN Secretary-General's call.

Despite many problems in implementing Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May still made many commitments to help solve the migration crisis. Photo: Getty

The United States, hoping to ease the burden of migrants pouring into Europe, has set a target of accepting 110,000 refugees in the coming fiscal year, up 30 percent from 85,000 in fiscal 2016. Meanwhile, Japan has pledged an additional $2.8 billion over the next three years for humanitarian aid to help migrants. China will also contribute an additional $100 million, on top of its previous $1 billion commitment to multilateral humanitarian agencies and relevant United Nations migration initiatives. Despite being “headache” over a series of difficult issues related to taking Britain out of the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May also reaffirmed Britain’s commitments to international aid, and will spend 80 million pounds – 10 times more than before – to manage the flow of migrants from France to Britain via the Eurotunnel…

These commitments show that the pioneering team in implementing the New York Declaration this year are all powerful countries with influence in international affairs. This is very encouraging because everyone understands that any program or action plan, especially those of a multinational nature, always needs "leaders" to take the lead in order to achieve success.

The gap from commitment to action

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, by the end of 2015, the world had 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants. The massive migration wave has caused many economic and social consequences for frontline countries such as Greece, Austria, and Hungary. Refugees themselves also face many dangers on their journey to the "promised land".

With the New York Declaration, refugee children will have the opportunity to go to school. Photo: Reuters

Analysts say that in order for the New York Declaration to be a turning point in resolving the current migration crisis, the most important thing is that the signatory countries must implement it seriously and with goodwill as they have shown up to this point. However, there are still many doubts about the effectiveness of this declaration, because it is only a political commitment, lacking any binding legal mechanisms related to the implementation of the obligations of the countries.

In addition, the underlying causes of migration are always war, repression and violent extremism. To address the root of the problem, the international community’s efforts must focus on resolving the political crisis at the origin of the migration.

So will countries, including the powers that made commitments at the New York Conference, abandon their calculations related to national interests in these hot spots? This will remain a big question. Therefore, tens of millions of migrants are waiting to see whether the call of US President Barack Obama when chairing the Summit on migrants that: "We cannot close our eyes, close the door, abandon these families because that would betray our deepest values" is just an empty call, or it can really help them "settle down and make a living" in their own homeland instead of having to find a door to the future in another country./.

Thuy Ngoc