Submitted by: Canadian Group of Liberal International
Recognising
In 2018, 68.5 million men, women, and children were forcibly displaced in 2018 because of war, violence, or repression. Fifty-two percent of refugees are children who face uncertain and often terrifying futures.
Acknowledging
The historical role of liberals in responding to refugee crises in the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Liberals, including prominent Canadian liberals, were prominent in the creation of the establishment of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration seventy-five years ago. This organization is the antecedent of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees what acknowledges that the current crisis overwhelms its resources and those of non-governmental organizations dealing with refugees.
The adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) by the United Nations in 2018
Noting
The recent report of The World Refugee Council calling on a major transformation of the global refugee system. The Council, which is chaired by The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, the former Foreign Minister of Canada and an active member of the Canadian Group of Liberal International, emphasizes the challenge to liberal values represented by the current refugee crisis.
The report presents fifty-five recommendations that are intended to galvanise political will.
The report is the product of extensive international consultation, and many participants in the report’s development are citizens of nations in which LI has a presence.
The WRC report is an important complement and reinforcement of the UN Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).
Urges
The 202nd Executive Committee to develop a more humane and liberal response to the extraordinary humanitarian challenge represented by the swelling number of persons displaced by war, violence, persecution, and famine.
That the report of the World Refugee Council, A Call to Action: Transforming the Global Refugee System unveiled at UN Headquarters in January 2019, be taken into consideration in this process.
