Speech #1140037223

In northeastern Nigeria. 1.5 million people have fled their homes due to attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram. Boko Haram is estimated to have killed over 12.000 people. kidnapped thousands. including 276 girls from the Chibok School whose whereabouts remain unknown. Over 74.000 Nigerians are refugees in Cameroon. another 100.000 refugees are in the area. The global refugee trends are indeed alarming. The international assistance being provided is not keeping pace with the scale of the problem. For example. almost halfway through 2015. the United Nations humanitarian appeal for Syria is only 20 percent funded. Yet. in the spirit of World Refugee Day. we must redouble our efforts to prevent conflicts that force families to flee their homes. villages. and cities. We must also then create the conditions to get these refugees safely back home. First. we need to ask ourselves hard questions about how we can increase the effectiveness of the assistance we provide. Most refugees live in urban areas. not in traditional refugee camps. Refugees who live in cities face unique vulnerabilities. which must change how international assistance is now being given. Moreover. protracted crises are the new normal. Seventyfive percent of the world refugees are caught in longterm crisis situations. with many refugees displaced for an average of 17 years. We need to use our humanitarian and development dollars more skillfully so we are providing durable solutions to chronic vulnerabilities. Second. the international community must get serious about protecting the most vulnerable refugees: women and children. Women are facing horrible threats in conflicts across the globe. where rape and sexual assault are being used as weapons of war. and as vulnerable refugees they continue to be targets of genderbased violence. Moreover. children now make up half of all refugees worldwide. We must do more to protect them from sexual exploitation and abuse. recruitment as child soldiers. and early marriages. The United Nations Population Fund. Mercy Corps. the International Rescue Committee. and Catholic Relief Services know how to provide targeted support and protection to women and children refugees. but we in the international community must fund them adequately to do the job. Third. we must strengthen the capacity of U.N. peacekeeping. As David Miliband. former British Foreign Secretary. now head of the International Rescue Committee noted: At a time of cuts in defense budgets. new and asymmetric threats. and record numbers of people fleeing conflict. the case of strengthened and more fairly shared UN peacekeeping is overwhelming.