Luxembourg to Allocate €1m to Connectivity for Refugees Initiative

On Wednesday 13 December 2023, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Xavier Bettel, paid a working visit to Geneva, Switzerland where he participated in the Global Refugee Forum.

Held every four years and organised for the first time in 2019, the Global Refugee Forum is the world's largest gathering on refugees. It aims to promote the concrete implementation of the objectives defined in the Global Compact on Refugees.

As reported by Luxembourg's Foreign Ministry, this year's edition was an opportunity to provide an update on progress made in implementing pledges and initiatives announced since 2019, announce new commitments and share lessons learned in order to inspire new initiatives to achieve the goals of the Global Compact on Refugees.

In his speech during the plenary session, Minister Bettel spoke of the seriousness of the current situation of displaced people throughout the world: "We are living in a period of multifaceted crises, whether it is the war in Ukraine or the war in the Gaza Strip. It is essential that we address the root causes of forced displacement, including conflict and climate change."

He called for greater solidarity and redoubled efforts to achieve more equitable and predictable governance of displaced people, especially at the European level: "We need a Europe based on values, and not on barriers and walls."

Minister Bettel also announced that Luxembourg will allocate €1 million to the "Connectivity for Refugees" initiative, set up together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, or UN Refugee Agency), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), to help bridge the connectivity gap for displaced people.

The trip was also an opportunity for Minister Bettel to meet a number of leaders of international partner organisations of Luxembourg's development cooperation programme which are based in Geneva, for the first time in his capacity as Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade.

On the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum, the minister had bilateral exchanges with Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Discussions focused on current partnerships and future collaboration between Luxembourg and the respective organisations, as well as current topics.