Meet, share, inspire: international conference of good practices on refugee protection

The 'Meet. Share. Inspire: International Conference of Good Practices on Refugee Protection, organized in partnership with the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) and Support to Life (STL) with support of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) was held on 24-28 September 2019 at Ankara HiltonSA Hotel.

23 valuable panelists from 11 countries shared their experiences, accompanied by six expert moderators from institutions such as DGMM. Turkish Red Crescent Bilgi University Dokuz Eylul University and Support to Life at the conference. The conference was organized to exchange ideas, enrich potential solutions and pave the way for new methods in the current circumstances where 200 million people around the world. 25.9 million of whom are refugees, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

It was significant that this conference, during which we exchanged good practices on refugee protection, was held in Turkey -the country that hosts the highest number of refugees worldwide. Looking back at the past 40 years, we see that Turkey and its surrounding area make a hot spot in terms of forced displacement and refugee movements. Social turmoil and unrest seen in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans and most recently in Syria. The Syrian War and the overall regional instability resulted in affected a vast population and millions had to leave their homes looking for safety in Turkey or in other surrounding countries.