EIB Commits to Supporting Refugees, Economic Resilience, and Social Inclusion at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum

EIB Commits to Supporting Refugees, Economic Resilience, and Social Inclusion at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum

(IN BRIEF) The European Investment Bank (EIB) has reiterated its dedication to addressing the needs of refugees, enhancing economic resilience in host and origin communities, and fostering social inclusion at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum. The EIB collaborated with partners from the European Union, Multilateral Development Banks, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to make institutional pledges and multi-stakeholder statements. As part of Team Europe, the EIB and the European Union pledged to contribute to the goals of the Global Compact on Refugees. The EIB’s Solidarity Package of €4 billion includes financial support, advisory services, and technical assistance to aid local, regional, and national authorities in the EU. This assistance focuses on developing essential social infrastructure and services for displaced persons and host communities. The EIB is committed to addressing displacement crises, supporting climate action, refugee education, economic inclusion, social protection, integration, and gender equality. Multilateral Development Banks also reaffirmed their commitment to supporting affected populations through financing, policy instruments, research, and collaboration via the MDB Platform on Economic Migration and Forced Displacement. The EIB actively contributed to the development of a common position on addressing forced displacement through a comprehensive Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus approach within the OECD International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF). This common position guides development cooperation in addressing displacement situations in low- and middle-income countries and aligns with global initiatives like the Global Compact on Refugees and the UN Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 14-Dec-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — At the 2023 Global Refugee Forum, the European Investment Bank (EIB) reaffirmed its commitment to supporting refugees’ needs, building longer-term economic resilience in host and origin communities, and promoting social inclusion.

The EU bank contributed to several institutional pledges and multi-stakeholder statements with partners from the European Union, Multilateral Development Banks and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti, said: “Migration is about so much more than just crossing borders. It is also about people showing strength, bravery, and the hope for a better tomorrow. At the EIB we will continue to ensure that our investments support host and origin communities and uplift refugees, recognising the important role they can play in diverse societies. Working with our partners, the EIB is committed to fostering economic resilience in the places migrants come from and where they go, generating jobs and opportunities for everyone. Our focus is on building strong partnerships to create shared prosperity and global well-being.”

European Union pledges

As Team Europe, the EIB and the European Union’s pledges contribute to achieving the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, in particular helping forcibly displaced persons via the EIB Solidarity Package of €4 billion. This includes financial support, free advisory services and technical assistance to local, regional and national authorities in the EU to help them develop and expand critical social infrastructure and services for Ukrainians and host communities, such as housing, schools and hospital. Poland and Czechia are currently implementing projects with this EIB support.

The EIB will also help tackling the Syrian displacement crisis, supporting climate action, refugee education, economic inclusion, social protection and integration, and enhancing gender equality, while protecting refugees and migrants from gender-based violence.

The EU and its Member States are the leading global contributor to addressing displacement crises, contributing to 42% of global funding for refugees in low- and middle-income countries. The EU allocates 80% of its humanitarian budget annually to projects benefiting displaced individuals and host communities. The EU integrates humanitarian, development, and peace strategies to facilitate the transition from emergency assistance to long-term solutions.

MDB Coordination Platform joint commitments

Acknowledging the increase in mobility, fragility and conflicts, the EIB and fellow Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), reaffirmed their commitment to supporting countries of origin, transit areas, host communities, refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and migrants in refugee-like situations through targeted financing, policy instruments and research and through the MDB Platform on Economic Migration and Forced Displacement.

Founded by the EIB and the World Bank, the MDB Platform on Economic Migration and Forced Displacement seeks to foster strategic alignment among MDBs, strengthen operational coordination and knowledge sharing to leverage synergies and complementarities.

In their 2023 Joint Commitments, MDBs identified further priority areas for the MDB Coordination Platform to focus on in the coming years, specifically: promoting holistic approaches, advancing collaboration, deepening coordination on analytics and knowledge, improving monitoring and evaluation, and exploring innovative financing mechanisms.

In addition, MDBs committed to strengthening their partnership with strategic stakeholders, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), civil society, the private sector and partners across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, to maximise their collective development impact.

OECD International Network on Conflict and Fragility common position

The International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) is a unique network of OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and key multilateral agencies working in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

The OECD DAC International Network on Conflict and Fragility adopted a common position on “Addressing forced displacement with a comprehensive Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus approach”. It aims to be a framework to guide development cooperation in addressing refugee, internal displacement, and statelessness situations in low- and middle-income Countries. It supports the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the UN Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.

The EIB contributed to the elaboration of the common position and is fully supporting it. It focuses on three engagement areas including mitigating immediate needs through coordinated responses, including: displaced populations in sustainable development and climate action, addressing recurring drivers of forced displacement, emphasizing peacebuilding, private sector investments, and policy dialogue.

About the EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm dedicated to operations outside the European Union, and a key partner of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. We aim to support at least €100 billion of investment by the end of 2027, around one-third of the overall target of Global Gateway. Within Team Europe, EIB Global fosters strong, focused partnerships alongside fellow development finance institutions and civil society. EIB Global brings the EIB Group closer to local communities, companies and institutions through our offices across the world.

About the Global Refugee Forum

The Global Refugee Forum is the world’s largest international gathering on refugees. Held every four years, it is designed to support the practical implementation of the objectives set out in the Global Compact on Refugees: ease pressures on host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, increase access to third-country solutions and improve conditions in countries of origin.

It provides the opportunity for States and stakeholders to announce concrete pledges and contributions, highlight progress made, share good practices and take stock of the challenges and opportunities ahead. The 2023 Forum is co-convened by five States – Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan and Uganda, and co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland and UNHCR.

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SOURCE: European Investment Bank