Habitat III: Special session on Migrants, displaced and refugee in Urban Areas.

Within the framework of Hábitat III (Quito, October 2016) it ws carried out an special session on migrants, refugees and displaced populations in Urban areas. The session has as special speakers to Sir William Lacy, General Director International Organization for Migration (IOM); Esther Cuesta, Viceminister of Human Mobility República de Ecuador; Jean Louis de Brouwer Director DG ECHO; Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commisioner Human Rights; Andreas Wolter, Mayor of Cologn, Steven Corliss, UNHCR; Joseph Schecla Habitat International Coalition, with the moderation of Fernando Murillo, from the University of Buenos Aires. 

The session have individual presentation of the speakers followed by questions from attendants. Key topics dicussed includes critical challenges faced by communities in adpating to the movement of people into cities;   What are the challenges, including human rights challenges, being faced by migrants, refugees and Internally Displaced Persons? What personal stories have you heard about these challenges?. How the implementation of the New Urban Agenda can help to address challenges and opportunities faced by migrants, refugees, and their host communities?  How are city and  national governments governing the situation of migrants and refugees within their jurisdictions, and what best practices exist? What commitments can governments, agencies, and other stakeholders make to live up to the ambitions of the New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? What actions are needed to effectively implement migration-related commitments of the New Urban Agenda and how would this contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals more broadly? What is required to address the challenges and opportunities of migration in the urban context? How can a discussion on the needs of migrants, refugees and host communities be taken forward beyond Quito?

Answers to these questions will be presented in next posts of this blog. 

More information available at

https://habitat3.org/programme/migration-and-refugees/