UNGA80 High-Level Week: Side Event - High-Level Round Table on Solutions to Internal Displacement
UNGA80 High-Level Week | 23 September 2025 | New York
The High-Level Roundtable brought together governments, UN leaders and development partners to demonstrate political commitment and share progress in advancing solutions to internal displacement. Held in the spirit of UN80 as a moment for renewal and reform, the discussion built on the Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement and reaffirmed the importance of government-led, evidence-based and adequately financed approaches to solutions.
Participants emphasized that government leadership is decisive, with solutions needing to be embedded in national and local strategies, development planning, policies and budgets. They highlighted the importance of coordinated action across humanitarian, development and peace actors, supported by donors, financial institutions and the private sector.
Country experiences from the Central African Republic, Somalia, Colombia, Nigeria and South Sudan, among others, demonstrated how governments are integrating solutions into national development and peacebuilding priorities. Discussions highlighted the value of area-based approaches, stronger local capacities, reliable data and the meaningful participation of internally displaced people and affected communities.
A central message was the need to move from promising practices to solutions at scale, requiring predictable and long-term financing, stronger partnerships and greater mobilization of domestic and international, public and private resources. Participants also underscored that the UN’s system-wide approach to internal displacement provides an important example of UN reform in action, bringing humanitarian, development and peace actors together under Resident Coordinator leadership and aligning support with national priorities.
The discussion reinforced that solutions to internal displacement are achievable, but require sustained political commitment and collective responsibility. Participants welcomed the growing global momentum around the agenda, including through the Hamburg Call to Action on Internal Displacement, and called for continued investment, learning and partnerships to accelerate progress.
Speakers
Keynote speakers: H.E. Faustin-Archange Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic; Ms. Amy Pope, Director General, IOM; Lt. Gen. Bashir Mohamed Jama, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Somalia; and H.E. Ambassador Patricia Danzi, Director General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Expert contributors: Dr. Katharine Donato and Dr. Elizabeth Ferris, Georgetown University.
Roundtable participants included: Mr. Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, UNHCR (Moderator); Mr. Maciej Popowski, Director General, ECHO; H.E. Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs, Colombia; H.E. Andreas Kravik, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway; Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, Governor of Benue State, Nigeria; Mr. Antón Leis García, Director, AECID; Dr. Julia Monar, Director General of Stabilization, Humanitarian Assistance and Peacebuilding, Germany; Mr. Marcelo Viegas, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil; Ambassador Shigeru Umetsu, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan; and H.E. Stephen Par Kuol, Minister of Peacebuilding, South Sudan.
Closing remarks: Ms. Shoko Noda, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Crisis Bureau, UNDP.
Organized by the International Organization for Migration and the Global Solutions Hub on Internal Displacement