Global Forced Displacement’s Unforced Errors
A year-long CSIS study involving extensive frontline economy field research warned of “unprecedented” displacement extrapolating from the current pace over the next decade to hundreds of millions globally, which will swamp US relief funding and national security concerns. It urges an “all hands on deck” approach multilaterally to embrace private sector development, with Washington to refrain from short-term budget cuts and agreement withdrawal and reengage while also pressing China, Russia and other countries to raise contributions and absorb migrants and refugees. In Europe sentiment has shifted from welcome to deterrence and deportation in recent years in violation of the 2003 Dublin accord. The legal and logistical system dividing responsibility between the UN Refugee Agency and International Organization for Migration is badly dated and major host countries like Bangladesh, Iraq and Jordan are not signatories. The UN’s budget shortfall was $4.25 billion or 50% last year, and the World Bank and other development lenders have just arrived on the scene. Of the 65 million currently in flight the overwhelming portion have that status for at least 10 years and they are over 80% concentrated in poor and developing countries. Women and children are half the population, and most live in urban centers as opposed to traditional camps. In advanced economies one-tenth of foreign aid now goes to processing and supporting arrivals, and terrorism incidence has been non-existent despite political rhetoric. Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey have absorbed 6 million Syrians, while only a tiny fraction have been resettled abroad. The US plans to slash this year’s quota to a record low, but India, Japan and Saudi Arabia lock the door altogether.
According to the OECD almost one-fifth of official donations, over $25 billion, are for forced migration. Root causes generally divide into three categories: violent conflict, political persecution and economic mismanagement, and climate and natural disaster. One-third of the displaced numbers face famine or food insecurity, with 6 million at risk in Somalia alone and the toll in Yemen unknown. Education and work should be basic rights and are key to productive stays, but access is often deliberately restricted or beyond host country capacity. These issues are now on the agenda of broad compacts negotiated with the international community, starting with the 2016 Jordan one where the EU agreed to provide additional trade preferences and partners backed enterprise zone expansion. Bangladesh, which has taken in 1 million Muslim Rohingya expelled from next-door Myanmar, is early in this process with wider duty-free garment exports a chief consideration. Since summits in 2016 private business has emerged as a new actor in hiring and supply chain relationships and adapting products and services to migrant needs. Studies show clear bottom-line returns, and refugees themselves have proven active entrepreneurs with thousands of business launches tallied in Turkey. Small-scale financing projects have a mixed record and the planned US Development Finance Corporation may launch a dedicated venture capital fund following previous success in difficult environments. The report recommends more AID missions in “hot spots” and increased World Bank focus through the private sector IFC on innovative business and financial models. It suggests further study to unclog the deal pipeline and size constraints associated with these tragic flows.
