Corporations Can Accelerate Solutions to the Worldwide Refugee Crisis

The current volume of worldwide refugees is staggering—20 million people are categorized as refugees out of 60 million displaced from their homes according to the United Nations Human Rights Council—and the pace of this overall crisis has greatly increased since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. What Frontex classifies as ‘illegal border crossings’ have shot up six-fold in 2015 versus 2014 to the EU alone, even twelve-fold in the Q4 comparison. And the problem is here to stay: The average length of conflict-induced displacement is 17 years according to a United Nations study. The complexity of this situation requires new solutions beyond traditional government response, and the private sector in particular has an important role to play.

Many corporations have recently made headlines for their efforts to help refugees: Google is a prominent supporter, helping build an information hub for refugees by installing low-cost WiFi in refugee camps, helping to design and launch a mobile website to provide information to refugees in their journey, and a new application that frontline relief workers can use to communicate with refugees in multiple languages. LinkedIn is using its corporate assets to help refugees network for jobs through Welcome Talent; likewise Ikea is supporting a number of initiatives, including accelerating its support for “Better Shelters” in its partnership with the United Nations Human Rights Council.

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