IDB, UNHCR tackling forced displacement crisis in the Caribbean
WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between it and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday, to address the development challenges and opportunities generated by rising forced displacement across Latin America and the Caribbean.
IDB president, Mauricio Claver-Carone signed on behalf of the bank while UNHCR Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, signed on behalf of the UN agency.
The IDB said it will collaborate with the UNHCR “to foster solutions and promote the inclusion of displaced populations in host communities, with a particular focus on vulnerable people, especially women and children”.
“The agreement promotes programmes and projects to maximise technical capacities and knowledge transfers in areas such as data collection and analysis, strengthen multilateral coordination platforms and joint resource mobilisation, and work toward operational synergies,” said the IDB in a statement.
It noted that the announcement enhances the ability of both organisations to meet the “unprecedented challenges facing the region and the opportunities to improve the socio-economic inclusion for millions of migrants and refugees while also benefitting their host communities”.
Claver-Carone noted that the region has more migrants per capita than any other region in the world. He said the agreement “paves the way to establish durable solutions to address the drivers of migration, and better help both host communities and the displaced”.
“By expanding our work, UNHCR and IDB, will directly impact lives and begin to address this unprecedented challenge in every country in the region,” he added.
The IDB said the region is facing the “largest human mobility crisis in recent history”. It said the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on refugees and migrants, further affecting their income and living conditions.
“The growing Venezuelan exodus, record numbers of people fleeing the countries of northern Central America, together with new migration outflows from countries such as Haiti or Nicaragua, and returns of displaced and migrants to the Northern Triangle have put countries up to an unprecedented social inclusion challenge,” the IDB stated.
For his part, Grandi said that the agreement “reinforces our longstanding collaboration to tackle forced displacement across the region”.
“This strategic and innovative partnership will help to provide refugees and other displaced people with the critical support they need to become self-reliant while contributing to their host communities,” he said.