International Refugee Congress was held in Istanbul on 10-11 May 2018 with the participation of more than 130 people from 27 countries. IKV was a member of the Steering Committee of the Congress, which took place as the result of preparatory/consultation and policy making phases that have been ongoing for 5 months. Participants from different parts of the world included academics, civil society members, refugees, representatives of international organisations and government officials, as well as NGOs set up by refugees or working for them. IKV Researcher Ahmet Ceran and Junior Researcher Merve Özcan joined the International Refugee Congress.

Before the two-day Congress, working groups prepared policy documents in five different areas. First of all, during the Congress, topics related to access to services, legal rights and asylum, durable solutions and sharing responsibility, representation and participation along with the issues on women and displacement concerning refugees and host countries were mapped. Subsequently, participants gathered in these five working areas. They discussed the challenges faced by refugees and host countries, areas that have room for development and policy proposals, focusing on three or four sub-titles in their respective fields. Within this context, the focus in women and displacement working group was on dealing with multi-layered and structural discrimination, feminist research and knowledge creation, and economic and political empowerment of women while health and education were touched upon in access to services.

During the efforts of the Steering Committee, it was determined that there is a need to ensure legal rights and access to qualified services, inclusive representation and participation in all levels of decision-making processes, improved and extended response and durable solutions women’s need, children and adults. At the end of the working groups at Congress, the policy documents, which had been prepared by the Steering Committee before the Congress, and the identified needs were deepened, and a communique has been prepared. Some recommendations at the communique include: increasing access to legal assistance; supporting international organisations and donors to support national governments in helping more refugees to access health services; and supporting low-interest loans, public funds and private investment to encourage investment and improve the macroeconomic conditions in origin or first asylum countries. The further inclusion of women refugees and NGOs working for them in the policy-making processes and the launch and support of an international platform by the UN and member countries to increase the participation and representation of refugees.