What It Is
The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) was affirmed by the on 17 December 2018 alongside its sister . The GCR was developed under leadership through two years of consultations following the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.
The GCR is a comprehensive for international cooperation on refugee response, codifying expanded responsibility-sharing and supporting more sustainable refugee responses.
Four Objectives
The GCR's four objectives:
- Ease pressures on host countries: providing burden-sharing support to states hosting large refugee populations.
- Enhance refugee self-reliance: enabling refugees to work, access education and services, and contribute to host economies.
- Expand access to third-country solutions including resettlement: increasing the number of refugees relocated to third countries.
- Support conditions in countries of origin for safe and dignified return: addressing root causes and creating conditions for voluntary return.
The four objectives reflect a comprehensive theory of refugee response: addressing pressure on hosts, building refugee agency, providing third-country options, and supporting return possibilities.
The Global Refugee Forum
The Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is the principal review mechanism for the GCR. The Forum brings together governments, UNHCR, NGOs, the private sector, refugees themselves, and other stakeholders to:
- Review GCR implementation.
- Make new pledges: resettlement places, financial commitments, policy reforms.
- Share good practices and lessons learned.
- Mobilize additional support for refugee response.
The first GRF was held in December 2019; the second in December 2023. The forums have mobilized substantial pledges — hundreds of resettlement commitments, billions in financial pledges, and policy reforms across dozens of states.
Implementation in Practice
GCR implementation has produced several concrete deliverables:
- Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) applications: country-level implementations of the GCR in major refugee-hosting contexts (Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, Djibouti, Somalia, Chad).
- Refugee Education : expanded education for refugees globally.
- Refugee inclusion in development planning: increasingly common in major refugee-hosting countries.
- Private-sector engagement: businesses providing employment, education, and services to refugees.
- Solidarity pledges: third-country support to major refugee-hosting countries.
Like the GCM, Non-Binding
Like the GCM, the GCR is legally non-binding but provides a normative framework and pledging mechanism that has produced concrete deliverables in refugee response coordination.
The non-binding nature is a feature, not a bug — it allowed broader political than a binding treaty would have. The GCR is built on the foundation of the and 1967 Protocol, which provide the binding legal framework for refugee protection.
Why It Matters
The GCR matters because:
- It systematized responsibility-sharing: making explicit the moral and political case for burden-sharing in refugee response.
- It centered refugee agency: emphasizing self-reliance and refugee participation in decisions about their lives.
- It expanded the response architecture: bringing in private sector, , refugees themselves, and development actors alongside traditional humanitarian agencies.
- It established review mechanisms: the GRF creates accountability for implementation.
- It supported policy innovation: enabling and legitimizing new approaches to refugee response in country contexts.
Critiques
The GCR has faced critiques:
- Implementation pace: progress on the four objectives has been slower than the framework's ambition suggested.
- Funding gaps: financial commitments have lagged behind needs.
- Resettlement gap: third-country resettlement has declined globally since 2017, undermining one of the four pillars.
- Limited refugee voice: despite emphasis on refugee participation, refugee representation in decision-making remains limited.
Common Misconceptions
The GCR is sometimes confused with the 1951 Refugee Convention. They are different: the 1951 Convention is the binding legal framework for refugee protection; the GCR is the 2018 framework for international cooperation on refugee response.
Another misconception is that the GCR creates new refugee rights. It does not — rights from the 1951 Convention and other instruments. The GCR addresses response coordination and burden-sharing.
Real-World Examples
The 2019 first Global Refugee Forum mobilized $10+ billion in pledges and 50,000+ resettlement places. The 2023 second GRF continued the pledging momentum despite a globally declining resettlement environment. Uganda's progressive refugee response — enabling refugees to work, access services, and contribute to local economies — has been frequently cited as a CRRF success.
Example
The 2023 Global Refugee Forum mobilized 1,600+ pledges including resettlement commitments, education investments, and refugee employment initiatives — the principal venue for operationalizing the GCR.