Honourable Chair and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to address the issue of internally and externally displaced persons globally.
Today, the world is experiencing levels of displacement unprecedented in modern history. More than 120 million people are currently forcibly displaced worldwide. The majority remain internally displaced within their own countries, while tens of millions have crossed borders as refugees or asylum seekers.
Across many regions, conflict is no longer driven by a single cause, but by an interaction among governance fragility, climate stress, economic exclusion, demographic pressures, food insecurity, transnational criminal economies and geopolitical competition.
My first key message is this. Conflict today is persistent, ongoing and driven by the collective impact of multiple reinforcing pressures. This is where work on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus is helpful. It moves away from siloed policy approaches and toward instruments that seek to address the collective systems-based effect of the pressures and the shift—the objective—to broader resilience capacity and resilience governance, as well as new funding models that can support this.
My second message is that the character of conflict is changing in ways that intensify displacement and complicate humanitarian protection. Modern conflicts increasingly target critical civilian infrastructure, telecommunications, dams, water facilities, energy grids, hospitals and more. Armed groups and state actors recognize that infrastructure disruption weakens governments, fragments societies and undermines economic life. Autonomous systems, new weapons capability and even cyber-hacking are enabling these disruptions from afar.
This has direct implications for displacement. Populations are forced to flee not only the violence but also the collapse of water systems, electricity, health care and food networks. Increasingly, displaced populations disperse into rural and peri-urban areas that are difficult for humanitarian organizations to access based on the growing incidence of urban-based warfare, which is subject to precision strikes on critical infrastructure. This is challenging both humanitarian access and the protection-of-civilians agenda more broadly.
Technology-based humanitarian support has become important beyond mapping and tracking applications, which have been developed in recent years. There is a growing need for autonomous support systems, trusted communications networks, fact-checking tools and information authentication mechanisms to protect vulnerable populations from misinformation, exploitation and manipulation.
My third message concerns human rights implications for people on the move.
Displacement drivers are increasingly blurred, with individuals fleeing conflict. As international legal and institutional frameworks tend to treat these drivers separately, many displaced individuals fall into protection gaps. Along migration routes, rights protections remain uneven. There is often a patchwork of legal mechanisms, inconsistent asylum systems and differing standards of protection among countries of origin, transit and destination.
One particularly important principle is that of non-detention and how individuals on the move should not be criminalized through detention-based approaches. Registration systems, temporary documentation and rights-based administration are far more effective and humane responses than detention practices, which often deepen vulnerability and trauma.
Recent policy shifts in North America and Europe also raise important concerns. Increasing restrictions under safe third country frameworks and externalized migration arrangements sometimes risk pushing vulnerable populations towards more dangerous migration routes while weakening procedural protections.
My final message is that Canada has an opportunity to exercise principled leadership in this space. This includes investments in digital systems, support for humanitarian innovation and responsible technology deployment into fragile environments.
Canada can continue advocating for a rights-centred approach to displacement—one that recognizes the dignity and rights of people on the move, regardless of whether they are internally displaced, refugees, asylum seekers or migrants affected by overlapping crises. It can do this through the global compact for migration, the global compact on internally displaced people and the UN's “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement”.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.