STATEMENT
UNHCR 89th meeting of the Standing Committee, 13-15 March 2024
Agenda Item 6 - Strategic partnerships, including coordination.
Statement by Norway delivered by Svenn Wroldsen, First Secretary, the Permanent Mission of Norway
Check against delivery
15 March 2024
Norway welcomes the update on strategic partnerships and coordination.
UNHCR’s emergency response and coordination capacity is key to both refugee and cluster response. Strong partnership is what ensures that protection and assistance can be mobilized immediately in a sudden onset emergency.
Norway is pleased to learn of the progress made by UNHCR to diversify and strengthen its partnerships. Particularly by including local organisations and mechanisms of meaningful participation by the displaced and stateless to increase their ability to influence and shape the response.
With reference to MOPAN recommendations, we look forward to learning more of progress in simplifying cooperation mechanisms with partners, including individualized Global Partnership Agreements. We anticipate UNHCR to engage in genuine dialogue to develop these agreements by adjusting reporting requirements and, where relevant, increase multi-year and flexible funding.
Norway welcomes UNHCR’s engagement to strengthen the quality of action towards internal displacement, notably through the work of the Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement and in the IASC independent review. In this UNHCR should continue to be a champion of protection of IDPs.
Collaboration across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus requires strategic and operational cooperation among different partners. The Global Refugee Forum in December 2023 gave a positive boost by broad participation and the pledge to advance refugee inclusion in UN plans and national systems.
We encourage UNHCR to rethink refugee response in a longer-term perspective. As highlighted at the recent MOPAN assessment, it is important to reduce the risk of UNHCR becoming “stuck” as the primary long-term service provider in protracted refugee situations. UNHCR’s mandate to provide durable solutions does not mean that it should be the sole provider. Development actors should, in cooperation with host countries and countries of origin, take more responsibility, to include solutions to displacement in their programmes. This also mean that the UNHCR must accept not always being in the driver seat operationally.