Sanctuary Cities are Critical to Managing the Global Refugee Crisis

Chicago, June 3, 2017 – The world is facing unprecedented and catastrophic levels of population displacement. At least 65 million people are on the move, including 21 million refugees and 41 million internally displaced persons. That means that 1 in every 100 people globally is displaced from their home.

There is not just one global refugee crisis, but rather multiple overlapping crises. To be sure, North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia are especially badly affected. A new data visualization called “Earth Timelapse” captures the scale and distribution of crises between 2001-2016. Each dot on the screen represents stories of struggle and survival.

Read the article of Robert Muggah on the website of the Chicago Council For Global Affairs.

Robert Muggah is co-founder of the Igarapé Institute and SecDev Group. He is also an advisor to the Global Parliament of Mayors and other city networks.  The data visualization was developed in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon University CREATE Lab. Muggah is speaking at the 2017 Chicago Forum on Global Cities, hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times, June 7-9, 2017.