People First – New Solutions to the Challenge of Displacement

More than 82 million people – equal to the population of Germany – are forcibly displaced across the globe. An increasing number of refugees and internally displaced persons are living in long-term situations of vulnerability, dependency, and legal insecurity. This is despite the fact that every displaced person has the capacity and resources to build a new future in displacement but is rarely given the chance to do so by current aid, development, and migration policies. This policy brief makes the case for a paradigm shift towards a people-centred approach to displacement policy that 1) considers the human capital and social networks of displaced people and 2) enables them to use and further develop their potential, including through mobility. As the world’s most powerful countries, the G7 are well positioned to play a game-changing role in reducing the scale of global displacement by:

• leading global cooperation on displacement;
• promoting displaced people’s professional expertise so they can make better use of their skills;
• strengthening human capital by promoting education and apprenticeship opportunities;
• leveraging the power of family networks so that its easier for them to support one another; and
• scaling up support for the most vulnerable individuals.