From Commitment to Action: Implementing the Refugee Convention at 75

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, the landmark treaty that outlines States’ commitment to protect people forced to flee their countries in search of refuge. While many States have fallen short in their implementation of the Convention, and some have criticized it, States have overwhelmingly reaffirmed their commitments to the Refugee Convention over the last year. The treaty was celebrated this summer at a July 28 commemoration at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Over the next 18 months, States, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), civil society organizations and other stakeholders should seize the opportunity to take concrete steps, through dialogues, consultations, pledges and tangible reforms, to strengthen implementation of the Convention, reinvigorate support for it, and bolster the protection of refugees around the world. Such a transformation is essential to protect the lives of people at risk, promote stability and peace, and uphold the rule of law globally.

Success will require principled leadership, true responsibility sharing, the meaningful participation of refugees and refugee-led organizations, and the embrace of narratives rooted in shared values, human dignity and hope rather than fear and division, as the cross regional Civil Society Coalition on the Refugee Convention emphasized in July 2026 recommendations. A transformed protection system will need to prioritize concrete action to: uphold refugees’ rights, including nonrefoulement, work, and access to asylum, integration and citizenship; and reinvigorate cooperation through sharply scaled up aid, investment, resettlement, community sponsorship, labor mobility, family reunification and other pathways, along with support for safe, voluntary and dignified returns that accord with law.

This issue brief outlines some of the challenges facing the international refugee protection system, the enduring support for the Refugee Convention and some of the concrete actions that are critical to transform and strengthen refugee protection during the Convention’s anniversary year and beyond.

Read the full issue brief below.