The second Global Refugee Forum was held in Geneva from December 13 to 15. The Forum is the largest international gathering on refugees and is held every four years. Participants including representatives of States, international organizations, NGOs and refugees discuss the implementation of the goals of the Global Compact on Refugees*. The Forum invites States and other stakeholders to announce concrete pledges and contributions for the next four years.

JICUF, having been involved in refugee higher education since 2017 through the implementation of the Syrian Scholars Initiative (SSI), made a pledge in the first Global Refugee Forum in 2019 to continue providing opportunities to refugee students at ICU, and to hold symposia in Japan and the Asia Pacific region to share best practices. This pledge was successfully fulfilled.

This year, JICUF made a joint pledge with partner NGO Pathways Japan which covers significantly more ground. The pledge is three-fold:
(1) Admit 20 additional refugee students and continue to support 65 refugee students already admitted to 16 partner universities. Work with a network of partner universities to expand the number of host institutions.
(2) Admit 96 additional refugee students at 9 Japanese language schools and provide Japanese language education and employment support.
(3) Organize regular meetings of a regional network of stakeholders of complementary pathways in Asia and the Pacific to promote education pathways.
Programs that enable refugees to move to another country legally through channels outside of traditional resettlement are called “complementary pathways” and include education and labor opportunities. 

The full pledge can be viewed on the GRF website by looking up “Japan ICU Foundation.” Our 2023 pledge was far more comprehensive than our 2019 pledge, as we are now working with 16 universities (including ICU) and 9 language schools in Japan to admit and support refugee students. The war in Ukraine led to a substantial increase in interest among educational institutions in Japan to support refugee students. As a result, in 2022, JICUF and Pathways Japan were entrusted with recruiting Ukrainian students for partner institutions, and successfully placed over 60 students in institutions across Japan. This year, JICUF was involved in recruiting Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian students for language schools as well. The experience we have gained through the implementation of SSI allowed us to effectively manage the recruitment process.

JICUF is committed to helping the most vulnerable students access higher education to build stable, successful lives. We are excited to embark on fulfilling the new pledge with our partners in the next four years.

*The Global Compact on Refugees was officially affirmed by the UN General Assembly in December 2018. Its  four main objectives are: (1) ease pressures on host countries, (2) enhance refugee self-reliance, (3) increase access to third-country solutions and (4) improve conditions in countries of origin. JICUF is committed to contributing to goal 3 by increasing access to third-country solutions through higher education opportunities.