Germany is the first European country to free Syrian refugees from a draconian bureaucratic “trap”

The Global Compact for Migration, the first international agreement on migration under the United Nations, affirms the human rights of migrants and refugees and notes the benefits of migration. However, the impact of the agreement is limited because it is non-binding and weak on implementation. Key countries, including the United States, also pulled out of negotiations.

Shelters for Hope converted an abandoned motel into a migrant resource center called the Centro de Esperanza and provides meals, legal assistance, clothing, and shoes to families seeking asylum in the United States. Shelters for Hope sees between 150 to 200 people a day and can currently house about 30 people.

Community-based services provided by nonprofits — which include legal representation, housing, referrals for medical services, English language classes, and assistance with obtaining identity documents — have emerged as alternatives to ICE-based detention centers to help address the needs of immigrants and asylum seekers. Organizations like the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants provide food, housing, and case management support for asylum seekers, both individuals and entire families.

Punjabi Lehar is a YouTube channel that seeks to heal the personal wounds of the Indian and Pakistan Partition, which caused families to be forcibly split up and unable to reunite for over 75 years. The channel has over 600,000 subscribers and the videos feature people searching for loved ones or help finding images of their ancestral houses. The videos have helped many people reunite, either virtually or in person, with loved ones.

Atheist former Muslims fleeing religious persecution in their home countries continue to face harassment and legal hurdles when they seek asylum in Europe. Säkulare Flüchtlingshilfe (Atheist Refugee Relief), with several branches in Germany and Austria, helps provide atheist refugees with safety, social and healthcare services, and help in applying for asylum. Many refugee-aid groups, and the European governments themselves, are not attuned to the special problems faced by such refugees. The group has helped more than 70 refugees from 15 countries.

LGBTQ asylum seekers face a unique set of problems coming to the United States, often from places where gender expression and sexuality are strictly regulated. Four organizations across the US, Mexico, and Canada are filling this unique niche. For example, AsylumConnect created an app of resources on how to apply for asylum and a catalogue of LGBTQ-friendly services and organizations in the US for them to learn about. All four aim to validate LGBTQ asylum seekers and keep them safe.

The Sri Lankan Civil War lasted from 1983 to 2009 and bitterly divided the country into two sides between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Years later in 2012, a literary program called Write to Reconcile was created by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Shyam Selvadurai to use creative writing as a tool to open up dialogue between the two sides that still have misconceptions and prejudices against each other. Many participants in the workshop, which ended in 2017, testify to how much the program changed their perspectives.

For 70 years, India’s Sikhs have faced barriers to visiting one of the holiest sites in their religion, a template just three miles across the border in Pakistan. Now, the Pakistani government has announced plans to open a border crossing and building a connecting road. The high-profile gesture signals a desire for goodwill between Pakistan and India.

India's Sikhs now have visa-free access to one of their holiest sites: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, the site where their faith’s founder is believed to have passed away. The goodwill gesture between Pakistan and India has many hoping for a wider thaw in relations after decades of conflict.

After hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fled to Europe in 2015, wealthy European countries became more invested in fixing a broken immigration system, something which had traditionally fallen on poorer countries. Now, more countries are trying to integrate refugees into society, rather than keeping them separated from society in camps. Can countries like Uganda and Jordan who’ve attempted refugee resettlement provide an example for the rest of the world?