The G20 Leaders’ Declaration on Migration

Blog Series: What remains of the G20 Hamburg Summit?

Photo: Trail

International migration has effectively entered the G20 agenda only two years ago. When Turkey hosted the Antalya Summit in November 2015, it had also recently become host to several million refugees, mostly from Syria – some of whom were moving on to the Balkans and further to Western Europe. Accordingly, the Antalya Communiqué describes the “ongoing refugee crisis” as a global concern and uses rather specific language in calling for burden-sharing among states and more support for refugees, including through additional humanitarian and development assistance and third-country resettlement.

Humanitäre Hilfe als Herausforderung für die nächste Bundesregierung

Sowohl konfliktbedingte Krisen (z.B. Syrien, Ukraine, Südsudan) als auch Naturkatastrophen (z.B. Erdbeben in Nepal) sind in den vergangenen Jahren in ihrer Anzahl, Intensität und Dauer stetig angestiegen. Hinzugekommen sind Krisen wie Ebola oder humanitäre Auswirkungen des Klimawandels, z.B. durch das El-Niño-Phänomen. Dies verdeutlicht: Der weltweite Bedarf an Humanitärer Hilfe ist immens gestiegen.

Reading recommendation: For Africa, the G20 Hamburg Summit is a door stopper, not a bookend

Image: Juliane RosinAfrican leaders welcomed the Attention at this G20 Summit and praised Germany for the “new partnerships”. In concrete terms though, what results from this effort are the announcements of funding of less than $ 500 million. Time has come for the continent to position itself as part of the solution rather than part of the problems to address. Instead of being too distracted by others‘ plans, it’s time to have a plan for how the continent deals with them, G20 included.

The G20 After Hamburg

Blog Series: What remains of the G20 Hamburg Summit?

Image: Knoten

High hopes for the G20

Today people ask what the G20 is for. The answer is far from straightforward. With no written mandate, the G20’s value is in whatever it does. But to many, G20 action now seems arcane or ineffective, not worth the effort of large scale summitry. In this blog I attempt to show that the G20 has made and still can make a difference. It offers some guesses as to why doubts persist. And it gives a perspective of how the G20 might evolve.

The Finance Track stays on track

Photo: Stock Market board

The G20 Finance Track remains on track after the Hamburg Summit. The final statement reads: “An open and resilient financial system, grounded in agreed international standards, is crucial to supporting sustainable growth”. Sounds familiar? It should. Leaders recognized the need of “effective and representative global economic and financial institutions to underpin growth and sustainable development”. No news here, either.