As 3,000 delegates flew home from the fine vegetarian dinners and grand pledges at the world’s first Global Refugee Forum in Geneva earlier this month, they may have also reflected on what was missing from the gathering.
The good news was the promise of fresh resources, including more than $3bn from multilateral development banks and significant involvement from the private sector, which offered $250m in cash and kind including training and recruitment promises; and the chance for some refugees to voice their concerns directly to those in attendance.
Yet for some who were present, the gathering was a missed opportunity for bolder gestures of support, greater funding and deeper strategic action against the backdrop of a growing problem: last year marked a record 71m forcibly displaced people worldwide, including 26m refugees.