JICA President Akihiko Tanaka participated in the 2nd Global Refugee Forum (GRF) held in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 12 to 14.
After the opening session, President Tanaka gave a keynote speech at a high-level event on the Humanitarian, Development and Peace Partnership (HDP nexus), co-hosted by JICA, UNDP and UNHCR, and was a speaker at two other high-level events. He also met with representatives of UN agencies and refugee host countries.
In his keynote speech at a high-level event on the HDP nexus co-hosted by JICA and UNHCR, President Tanaka noted that in light of the recent compounding and escalating humanitarian crisis, the cooperation of actors involved in development and peace, as well as humanitarian assistance, is essential for addressing the protracted situation of refugees and for crisis prevention. He stated that the cooperation of actors involved in development and peace, as well as humanitarian assistance, is essential to respond to the protracted situation of refugees and prevent crises. He also pointed out the importance of supporting refugee host country governments in fulfilling their roles and leadership in order to promote mutually complementary coordination among the actors involved in the HDP. He then introduced examples of JICA’s administrative capacity building and human resource development programs for refugees in Uganda and other refugee host countries, and called for more humanitarian, development, and peace actors to cooperate with refugees and host communities in a coordinated manner.
The HDP Nexus high-level event
At a high-level event on peacebuilding and conflict prevention organized by the governments of Colombia and Egypt, among others, JICA introduced examples of its cooperation for peacebuilding in Colombia and South Sudan. He expressed his hope that efforts in both countries will lead to peace through inclusive support for refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees, and residents of host communities, and to the resolution of the root causes of refugee outbreaks and their return. He also noted the importance of regional cooperation among neighboring countries to further promote peacebuilding.
President Tanaka speaks at a high-level event on peacebuilding and conflict prevention
At a high-level event on the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) hosted by the World Bank, the Government of Japan, and others, noting that Japan is the largest contributor to the GCFF, emphasized that this mechanism enables the provision of concessional financing to middle-income countries hosting refugees and can contribute simultaneously to humanitarian needs and the promotion of development in host countries. He emphasized that this mechanism can provide concessional funding to middle-income countries hosting refugees and contribute simultaneously to humanitarian needs and the promotion of development in the host country. As specific examples of cooperation, he introduced the co-financing of World Bank loans and JICA yen loans through the GCFF, as well as the possibility of coordinating concessional funding from the World Bank and other sources with JICA’s technical cooperation in capacity building support for host country governments.
Chancellor Tanaka speaks at the GCFF High Level Event
In a meeting with UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Rauf Mazow, we confirmed the importance of following up on future humanitarian, development, and peace coordination efforts based on the results of the GRF, as well as further promoting UNHCR-JICA collaboration.
Chancellor Tanaka meeting with UN Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Mazou
In the meeting with Mr. Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, we discussed the possibility of integrating the idea of human rights into development cooperation at the time of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, sharing JICA’s guiding principle of human security in line with the Development Cooperation Framework, and confirming the importance of the two institutions to protect and guarantee human rights. The importance of exchanging views between the two organizations for the protection and guarantee of human rights was confirmed.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Turk and Chancellor Tanaka
In a meeting with Zambian Vice President Mutale Nalumango, we exchanged views on cooperation to help promote the HDP nexus by supporting the social integration of former refugees in Zambia and confirmed the direction of future cooperation.
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