Japan will offer around $3 million to a global fund providing education for refugees, as Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Wednesday pledged more support for the displaced amid ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.
"We cannot significantly improve the situation by merely providing food, water, and shelter to vulnerable people. We must adopt a more future-oriented, medium- to long-term approach," Kamikawa said at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva.
Japan's contribution to "Education Cannot Wait," a global fund that provides education to those affected by emergencies and crises, will be allocated to support children in Ukraine, which has been under invasion by Russia since February 2022, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
"Japan is helping refugees and displaced persons become independent through education and vocational training. We strongly encourage them to develop their abilities so they can contribute to peace and reconstruction at home," Kamikawa said in her speech.
The second gathering of the international forum for refugees comes amid the intensifying war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas since October and the conflict in Ukraine, which have fueled concerns about a surge in the number of refugees globally.
The three-day meeting through Friday, hosted by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Switzerland, is joined by leaders and ministers from various countries and representatives of international institutions.
Kamikawa said countries hosting refugees "are reaching the limits of their capacity to cope with the increased and protracted forced displacements around the world," and vowed that Japan will "continue to work to ease the pressure on these countries."
But the nation is known for its traditionally strict refugee policy, with only 1,117 people recognized as refugees by 2021 out of 91,664 applicants since it introduced its refugee status recognition program in 1982.
The forum, the world's largest multinational conference on refugees, held its inaugural meeting in 2019 in the Swiss city, according to the Office of the UNHCR.
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