Slipping through the net: Supporting refugees in urban areas

Despite the traditional image of a refugee as someone in a tented 'camp', the majority of today's world's refugees are displaced outside of caps, with over half living in urban areas; in built-up cities, towns, peri-urban settings and informal settlements. Meeting the needs of refugees outside of camps poses challenges for humanitarian agencies.

This paper provides a brief overview of responses to urban refugees in three different contexts - Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur, and the regional Syria displacement crisis - to better understand how donors, humanitarian agencies, host governments, civil society and other local actors have responded to-date. Drawing upon these case studies and other relevant literature, it identifies key areas crucial for improving support to urban refugees.