Thank you very much for the question. I think it's one that people across the world are asking, as we see conflicts continue, new ones emerge, and old ones seemingly irresolvable. Although we are in peace discussions in relation to Afghanistan, it's been going on for 40 years. The Syrian conflict is in the 10th year. We've had countries like Turkey hosting four million refugees, generously, for many years. Some are very long-term.
In answer to your question, I would go back to the reason for the refugee convention, which was six years after the Second World War, in 1951. At that time, the convention was dealing with about two million displaced people. It was thought that the refugee convention would essentially solve the problem, that it would find resettlement and a home for those two million.
Here we are, 70 years later, with much to celebrate in terms of those core constants of the refugee convention, but dealing with 80 million and, frankly, rising as we speak.
The question, of course, must be the one you're asking: What are sustainable solutions, rather than temporary ones, which are ones of allowing access to claim asylum and denying, of course, any form of refoulement to danger?
The answer, we think, lies in sharing responsibility, which is what the Global Compact on Refugees is designed to achieve—a shared, equitable responsibility for assisting those host countries that are taking the burden. In fact, 80% of refugees and displaced people are in developing or very poor countries, so the burden is disproportionately faced, particularly at the moment in Africa, where huge numbers of people are subject to the generosity of hosting countries in the near area.
What are the solutions? “Sharing” is a big word, but what does it actually mean? We're looking now for financial support, but also for investment. UNHCR is an emergency agency. We can provide billions of bars of soap and the emergency housing in Idlib. We can do the emergency work, but we're also moving now toward working much more closely with investment banks and governments, broadening the base of support to get investment to deal with what we all know are the underlying root causes, such as poverty and inequality. We need investment, and we need engagement by the community as a whole.