Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner of the United Nations refugee agency, knows firsthand that refugee response isn’t business as usual these days. With more than 65 million people “on the move,” as she says, the largest numbers since World War II, there is also an increased demand for long-term, realistic solutions.
“The average life cycle of a refugee is 26 years,” Clements explained. “We have to be doing things very differently with that in mind. We can’t say, ‘OK, here’s a blanket and here’s a tent.’”
On the heels of the United Nations Summit on Migrants and Refugees and the adoption of the “New York Declaration,” Devex talked with Clements down the street outside of the private sector forum of migration at the Concordia Summit about how the outcomes of talks in New York this way will look in practice.
About the author
Amy Liebermanamylieberman
Amy Lieberman is the U.N. Correspondent for Devex. She covers the United Nations and reports on global development and politics. Amy previously worked as a freelance reporter, covering the environment, human rights, immigration, and health across the U.S. and in more than 10 countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Nepal, and Cambodia. Her coverage has appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic, Slate, and the Los Angeles Times. A native New Yorker, Amy received her master’s degree in politics and government from Columbia’s School of Journalism.
