The Asia and the Pacific region continues to be affected by the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and faces a polycrisis (climate, food, energy, finance, conflict), which has resulted in increased vulnerabilities. Progress towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the region is slow; at this pace, the 2030 mark will be missed by decades. In this context, the region's 13.3 million refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, returnees, and stateless people are at risk of being further left behind. Whole-of-society responses are needed more than ever to work towards sustainable solutions for the forcibly displaced and stateless. However, when societies are increasingly under pressure, it is critical to reflect on pragmatic and innovative ways to achieve these objectives with civil society actors.

Co-organized by UNHCR, the Asia-Pacific Refugee Rights Network, the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, and the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees, the 2023 Asia-Pacific consultations between UNHCR and NGOs will be held under the theme ‘Promoting Inclusion for Sustainable Solutions’ with a focus on gender equality. The Consultations will offer an opportunity to reflect on UNHCR's and NGOs’ joined-up efforts to advance the Global Compact on Refugees, five years after its affirmation and three months before the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) to be held in December 2023. They are also a natural follow-up to the 2021 Regional Consultations, which looked at the socio-economic inclusion of refugees in the COVID context.

The Consultations are expected to articulate concrete recommendations to inform the formulation of strategies and the implementation of sustainable solutions. In addition, the recommendations of the Consultations will be presented at the annual meeting of the UNHCR's Executive Committee in October 2023 and will inform and support the global UNHCR-NGO consultations to be held in Geneva in June 2024.

For more information, please see here. 

14-15 September 2023