
A commentary by Anne-Marie Grey, USA for UNHCR’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, on James Purcell’s “The Humanitarian Journey: From Root Causes to Recovery”
Keywords: Purcell, USA for UNHCR, commentary, refugees
USA for UNHCR’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer’s firsthand assessment of James Purcell’s assessment on how data science can be employed to address the global refugee crisis.
As USA for UNHCR’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer since 2014, I have led the organization as the number of forcibly displaced people around the world has grown exponentially from 59.5 to 82.4 million, and during a time when the global refugee crisis has polarized public opinion across the United States. In the past seven years, I have seen firsthand the emergence of the new default model introduced in Purcell’s article, ‘Nationalism cum Isolationism’ or ‘America First.’ However, I have also seen U.S. communities show support in record-breaking efforts as demonstrated by the growth of USA for UNHCR’s fundraising and awareness from $5 million to $100 million annually. From my perspective, the partnership across governments, corporations, experts, practitioners, and refugees is essential to address the global refugee crisis. Additionally, and aligned with Purcell, the increasing value of data science to the analysis and solutions is critical. No amount of money is the endgame solution to a crisis with war, conflict, and persecution as its root causes. Orderly migration and the Global Humanitarian Cooperation model, in addition to President Joe Biden’s step in the right direction to raise the refugee admissions cap to 125,000 this year, gives me hope in America’s renewed commitment to addressing the global refugee crisis.
Anne-Marie Grey has no financial or non-financial disclosures to share for this article.
©2022 Anne-Marie Grey. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) International license, except where otherwise indicated with respect to particular material included in the article.