Nothing About Them Without Them. Refugee Participation in the International Refugee Regime

Abstract

The international refugee regime has seen significant changes since 2015, which have had an impact on refugee participation within it. I argue that that the level of meaningful participation of refugees has progressed to some extent in the international refugee regime since 2015. I demonstrate this by using Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation framework to determine the level of refugee participation in the New York Declaration in 2016, the Global Compact on Refugees in 2018, and the Global Refugee Forum in 2019. I also propose four recommendations to continue this progression: the inclusion of a refugee in State delegations, the creation of a refugee delegation, UNHCR-refugee partnership in the planning and organising of the Global Refugee Forum 2023, and hosting future Global Refugee Forums in refugee host countries.