4 cities that embrace refugees— yours should, too.
On World Cities Day, we celebrate the importance of including everyone in building strong and vibrant hometowns.
When many people think of refugees, they picture sprawling camps filled with tents. But did you know that most people who have been forced to flee their homes from violence or persecution live in cities? More than 60 per cent of the world’s roughly 26 million refugees and more than 80 per cent of the 46 million who have fled their homes but remain inside their country’s borders (internally displaced people), live in urban centers.
People forced to flee war or persecution– as well as those who lack a nationality (stateless)– frequently lack access to quality education, health care and jobs. In 2018, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launched their Cities #WithRefugees campaign, an initiative that invites cities to sign a statement to publicly welcome families forced to flee. Many of these cities are also including refugees in policies and decision making. More than 250 cities in 50 countries have pledged their support so far.
“My experiences as a refugee have helped me as a leader.”
The initiative has never been more important. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequality, devastated economies and interrupted the education of hundreds of millions of children. Including the forcibly displaced in health care responses, as well as social and economic recovery plans, is critical.
It’s also smart. Those cities that have embraced these newcomers are stronger for it. Refugees are teachers, shop owners, engineers– our neighbors. As COVID-19 rages, many have worked as nurses, doctors and first responders. Recognizing a huge untapped market, several countries, and some states in the U.S., have even made it easier for refugee healthcare workers to get their licenses — often a time consuming and prohibitively expensive process for those who trained overseas.
Below, we look at how four cities have ensured that those who came seeking refuge also found a home — and how everyone has benefitted.
Milan, Italy
Milan has long served as an example to the rest of Italy, Europe and the world with policies and practices that help to weave refugees into the fabric of this fashion capital. In 2018, when a national law placed more restrictions on asylum-seekers, Milan made sure they could still access jobs, schools and the public health system. National law has since leaned more toward integration of refugees, but Milan continues to stand out.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala belongs to the Mayors Migration Council, which advocates for more inclusive policies for migrants and refugees. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, he and other members of the board called on local and national governments to allow all people equal access to healthcare and economic relief regardless of their migration status. They also urged officials to include migrants and refugees in developing and implementing pandemic responses and to “combat misinformation, racism, and xenophobia.”
“We aim at building an inclusive response for refugees and migrant children,” the mayor said. “Human mobility is one of the most urgent challenges of our time and it requires a joint pragmatic, rather than ideological, response”.
São Paulo, Brazil
Brazil hosts roughly 364,000 forcibly displaced people, half of whom were forced to flee violence and instability in neighboring Venezuela. For decades, São Paulo has led the way in including refugees, migrants and stateless people in policy and in practice. The city includes migrants and refuges in its COVID-19 response, ensuring information is disseminated in multiple languages. The city also provides cash, food, healthcare and housing to those affected by the pandemic, including refugees and migrants. Working with UNHCR, the city created a special program for transgender migrants and refugees to ensure they are not discriminated against in the COVID-19 response.
Next year, São Paulo will implement its first Municipal Plan of Public Policies for Refugees and Migrants to ensure public policy meets the needs of forcibly displaced people living in the city. An elected body of refugees and immigrants, the Municipal Council of Immigration, played a central role in developing the plan. Council member Jean Katumba, an engineer who fled political persecution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, arrived in Brazil in 2013. He once lived in a public shelter with other refugees. Now, he is a community leader and founder of an NGO that helps refugees integrate into the country. He spoke with UNHCR about the importance of refugees playing a main role in shaping policy. “No one can be aware of another person’s wishes, except for the person involved,” Jean said. “The perceptions we have, the ideas we aim to implement and the willingness to make it possible is what inspires me.”
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Roughly one-fifth of those living in Victoria are immigrants or refugees, according to the latest census figures available (2016). Victoria prides itself as a city that works with all sectors of society to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for new arrivals. It even offers $US50,000 from its budget for investments in projects that will make life easier for newcomers, a scheme pushed by City Councilor Sharmarke Dubow.
Dubow has played a key role in turning Victoria into a “Welcoming City,” one that is part of a network committed to including immigrants and refugees in policy and practice. Sharmarke fled civil war in Somalia in 1992, when he was just eight-years-old. He lived in a refugee camp in Kenya and then in Ethiopia and Egypt before finally arriving in Canada in 2012 with the help of UNHCR. He worked with the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society and the Inter-cultural Association of Greater Victoria before being elected to the city council in 2018 (he became a Canadian citizen in 2017). In addition to the investment project, he worked to bring free transit to young people (under 18) and to newly arrived refugees (for one year, regardless of age). He’s also volunteered with international relief agency KhalsaAid Canada to bring groceries and food to undocumented and refugee families during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought lots of stress and uncertainty to our communities,” Sharmarke told UNHCR. “My experiences as a refugee and living for more than 20 years in precarious uncertainty…have helped me as a leader to have an understanding of how people are worried right now — people feeling out of control.”
Vienna, Austria
Since shortly after World War II, Vienna has welcomed refugees –those who fled Hungary after the 1956 revolution, the aftermath of the 1968 Prague Spring, and war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But it’s really in the last decade that the city grew to be a model of integration. Now, the city follows a model of “integration from day one,” even as the country takes a harder line on asylum-seekers and migrants.
In 2016, after the previous year had seen the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees, the leaders launched a program called CORE, for instance. The initiative invited refugees to work with public institutions and civil society to develop programs that would help them thrive. The CORE team celebrated their success last October and ended the program itself, but the projects it spurred live on. Under a program called Start Vienna, the city has also tailored events in different languages for refugees providing information on housing, education, the labor market and more. Jürgen Czernohorszky, Executive City Councillor for Education, Integration, Youth and Personnel, once told UNHCR, “There has been a huge engagement of civil society…To be honest, we would not have managed without the volunteers. This is what we need — the open hearts of people living in the city.”
Compiled by Sarah Schafer, UNHCR Senior Global Digital Editor.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.
