Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table
Decisions about refugees,
made with refugees.
R-SEAT is an international, refugee-led organization improving the effectiveness of global refugee responses by co-designing mechanisms that make refugee participation at state level meaningful, sustainable and transformative.
NEXT GATHERING · R-Space High Level Panel & Reception at UNGA 2026 · The Harvard Club, NYC →Impact to date · updated live from R-SEAT's own records
Forced from their homes and living under decisions made about them — on protection, resettlement, funding — in rooms they are almost never in.
Displaced inside their own country
Refugees, under UNHCR’s mandate
Others needing international protection
Our mission
Twenty delegations. Twenty seats.
Five are already taken.
Our mission is to secure commitments from 20 ExCom Member States to formalize refugee participation in their respective national delegations.
Mechanism live — 5
Active refugee advisory mechanisms
What changed
What R-SEAT has achieved
From the first refugee advisor on a national delegation to five permanent mechanisms.
The first refugee on a national delegation
In 2019, R-SEAT co-founder Mustafa Alio became the first refugee to formally represent Canada at the Global Refugee Forum. Canada's mechanism, RAN Canada, is still active today.
Four more states followed
The United States, New Zealand, Germany and Australia co-created their own refugee advisory mechanisms.
More leaders in the room
Refugee-led organizations and refugee leaders were invited to the Global Refugee Forum and its Progress Review in greater numbers.
A model others can copy
Listed as a good practice by the Global Compact on Refugees — adoptable without starting from scratch.
The living network
The network is lighting up across the globe.
The Connection Map opens our network to the public: refugee leaders, experts and partner organizations you can reach directly.
Where you come in.
Join the Connection Map, connect with a refugee-led organization, or bring R-SEAT's expertise to your own table.