DEVELOPMENT
EXCERPT FROM HIGH-LEVEL MEETING
GLOBAL
RESPONSIBILITY
SHARING THROUGH
PATHWAY FOR
ADMISSION OF
SYRIAN REFUGEES
FILIPPO GRANDI
United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
74
During the discussions surrounding the
European Union’s recent agreement
with Turkey, I often thought of the
conversations I had in January with a
group of Syrian refugee women who live
in Istanbul with their small children. One
of them, a mother of five, told me that
she was hoping for a safe way to join
her husband in Europe, but that official
family reunification or resettlement
programmes took so long and have so
many requirements, that she had become
desperate. She did not see a future for
her children, with her husband abroad.
And so, she felt compelled to risk her life
and that of her children by taking a boat.
What can we do to help the Syrian
refugee women I met in Turkey, a country
that is already hosting nearly three million
refugees? Women who are desperate
enough to risk the lives of their children?
Our proposal today is that offering
alternative avenues for the admission
of Syrian refugees must become part
of the solution, together with investing
in helping the countries in the region.
These pathways can take many
forms: not only resettlement, but also
more flexible mechanisms for family
reunification, including extended family
members, labour mobility schemes,
student visa and scholarships,
as well as visa for medical reasons.
Resettlement needs vastly outstrip the
places that have been made available
so far. Last year, only 12 per cent of the
refugees in need of resettlement, who
are usually the most vulnerable, were
resettled. But humanitarian and student
visa, job permits and family reunification
would represent safe avenues of
admission for many other refugees as
well, including those who are more prone
to falling in the hands of smugglers and
those with the skills and talents that will
be needed one day to rebuild Syria.
There are two issues, however, on which
we need to be very clear. First, opening
safe and regular pathways for admission
can never be a substitute for countries’
fundamental responsibilities under
international law towards people directly
seeking asylum on their territory. These
pathways are additional measures that
are needed as part of a global response.
Second, while today’s meeting focuses
on Syrian refugees, it is clear that pledges
to offer safe avenues for the admission
of Syrian refugees must not come at the
expense of other refugee populations.
UNHCR is ready to support States in
practical and operational ways to help