Mobilizing for a Century of Dislocation

Nearly 35,000 people flee war or persecution each day. These brave men, women, and children join a record 65 million others— nearly 1 percent of the globe’s population— who can’t return home. Not even World War II uprooted as many people.

Migration will only worsen in the years ahead. Political and economic disorder continue to reign supreme across much of the world— and climate change will soon make life untenable in many communities.

Humanitarian organizations, donors, host countries, and their citizens can mitigate the suffering caused by the coming century of dislocation— but only by cooperating on sustainable development initiatives.

The Syrian civil war is the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis. Already, 13.5 million Syrians— more than half the pre-war population— have fled their homes. And the flow of migrants shows no signs of abating.

In our lifetimes, rising sea levels and desertification will force tens of millions to leave their homelands. Widespread flooding, and the resulting economic strain, could displace 15 million people in Bangladesh alone by 2050.

The humanitarian community must better prepare for these unprecedented refugee flows. Its aid distribution system dates to the post-WWII era. Then, most refugees needed donations of food and clothing as they waited out conflicts in camps.

Nowadays, three in four refugees live outside a camp. Nearly nine in ten reside in low- and middle-income nations, often those bordering their home countries. Lebanon, for instance, has taken in 1.5 million Syrians, who now make up a quarter of the tiny Mediterranean nation’s population.

Host governments frequently view these arrivals with suspicion, worrying that they’ll destabilize fragile political systems and take jobs from citizens. So they box refugees out of the labor market and make them dependent on charity or black-market work. Those fleeing the hell of war and disaster find themselves in purgatory— unable to return home but barred from building new lives.

Unfortunately, the current administration is limiting the number of refugees being resettled in the United States and is proposing cuts to our foreign aid budget at a time when we need it most. Instead, our government is turning to other sources of funding, like philanthropy, to fill the gaps.

That’s not sustainable. It’s time for new approaches.

Consider Oxford’s Alexander Betts, who heads up the university’s Refugee Studies Centre. He urges host countries to allow refugees to work, pointing to Uganda as a model. Over 20 percent of refugees in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, “own a business that employs other people, and 40 percent of those employees are nationals of the host country.”

Host nations have a choice. They can either let refugees burden the economy— or contribute to it.

If refugees join the labor force, they’ll inevitably disperse into cities and towns. It’s logistically difficult for aid organizations to deliver food or clothing to these dispersed populations. That’s why David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee— which my organization previously honored with the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize— urges donors to simply give refugees cash.

Cash— which currently accounts for just 6 percent of all humanitarian aid— empowers refugees to buy exactly what they need. IRC studied 90,000 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon who received pre-loaded ATM cards. Families overwhelmingly spent the money on food, water, winter clothing, and shelter. And cash keeps kids in school— “households receiving cash assistance were half as likely to send their children out to work,” according to IRC.

Cash and work permits help refugees contribute to the economy and become partly self-sustaining.

But refugees can’t reach their full potential without an education. Two-thirds of refugee children aren’t in school. Yet less than 2 percent of humanitarian aid was devoted to education in 2016. My organization is working with international nongovernmental organizations, including Save the Children and Theirworld, to demonstrate how education initiatives for the most vulnerable young people are a smart investment for future peace and sustainability. Together, we’re supporting education programs for the children of Syrian refugees close to the epicenter of the crisis.

A long-term vision has been articulated in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Global Goals and 169 targets for improving lives around the world. By collecting and tracking more data on different aid projects, donors could better identify best practices— and make funding contingent on host nations adopting those practices. Donors could also preemptively identify areas where environmental migrants will likely flee— and work with local governments to make sure they’re able to handle large migration inflows.

Regular Americans can encourage this shift by making financial donations to organizations that implement modern approaches to humanitarian aid. They can also volunteer locally to support refugees who are beginning their new lives in the United States.

Conflict, a lack of economic opportunity, and climate change will make this a century of dislocation. By quickly adopting new approaches, aid agencies, donors, and host nations— including the United States— can turn the challenges of mass migration into opportunities.