In cooperation with the World Refugee Council, the Centre for International Governance Innovation publishes the World Refugee Council Research Paper Series. The GPM Advisory Committee Co-chair Robert Muggah together with Adriana Erthal Adbenur have contributed to this series by writing: ‘Refugees and the City: The Twenty-first-century Front Line’.

“Cities are on the front line of forced migration. They are points of expulsion, transit and arrival. Most refugees and IDPs move in steps — from villages to towns, and from towns to cities. While in some cases, cities are periodically overwhelmed by mass influxes of refugees and IDPs, they are also remarkably effective at absorbing populations on the move. How can cities better prepare for the arrival of refugees? What strategies should cities adopt to integrate and settle forcibly displaced populations? And what kinds of norms, standards and practices already exist to help metropolitan authorities strengthen their responses on the ground? Given the sheer pace of urbanization in underdeveloped and developed settings and a host of political and climatic threats, designing effective and efficient strategies to protect, care for and resettle refugees in cities is now more urgent than ever.” (p1)

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