New Rotary Action Group (RAG) for Refugees

By Quentin Wodon, Chair of Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Migration.

Note: Because this article was posted before Russia invaded Ukraine, the additional Ukrainian refugees are not included in the numbers.

We are living through a refugee crisis which is only likely to get worse in the long run. The latest global report by UNHCR, the United Nations agency for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), estimates that in 2019, 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced.

This is a dramatic increase in forced displacement versus the estimate of 41.1 million people displaced in 2010. Cumulatively, just over the last decade, 100 million people have been newly displaced. Refugees, IDPs, and ‘other persons of concerns’ (to use the terminology of UNHCR) are among the most vulnerable people in the world.

Unfortunately, their numbers are expected to increase further in part due to climate change. Right now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of refugees and IDPs is even more distressing.

Eight months ago, my club helped organize an event on the refugee crisis in Central and Latin America with the Organization of American States (OAS). Thanks to the OAS, we had high level speakers, including two Foreign Ministers. John Hewko, the General Secretary of Rotary International, also sent a video message (this was during the RI Convention so he was not available).

In addition to guest speakers, we put together a small publication on the crisis and what Rotarians were doing to help refugees not only in Latin America, but all over the world. Organizing the publication was made much easier by the fact that at the end of 2019, for the Rotary Day at the United Nations, several Rotarians and a Rotary Peace Fellow had been recognized for their work.

Click here to read more.

Quentin Wodon is a Lead Economist at the World Bank, and currently serves as President of the Rotary Club of Washington Global and Chair of the Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Migration. He can be reached at rotarianeconomist@gmail.com.

And here is the website for the Rotary Action Group for Refugees and there is much information included that pertains to the current Ukraine crisis –

https://www.ragforrefugees.org/