World Leaders Meet at U.N. to Craft Response to Migrant Crisis

Global leaders gathered Monday for the first of two high-profile days of meetings on the issues of migration and refugees at the U.N. headquarters in New York, where they will attempt to forge a global response to the plight of the 65.3 million people forcibly displaced worldwide.

 

The U.N.’s first-ever Summit for Refugees and Migrants will see 193 member states adopt a set of non-binding commitments that will be known as the New York Declaration.

 

Monday’s event comes after the publication of a May report on refugees and migrants by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In it, he called for a global compact to share responsibility in the crisis, in an attempt to help developing countries like Lebanon and Turkey who currently host 80% of the world’s refugees.

 

“If one lesson can be drawn from the past few years, it is that individual countries cannot solve these issues on their own,” Ban wrote in the report. “International cooperation and action to address large movements of refugees and migrants must be strengthened.”

 

Read More: World Leaders Meet at U.N. to Craft Response to Migrant Crisis | TIME