Representatives from the Anglican Communion have been addressing the growing issues facing refugees and displaced people. From 15 to 17 December 2025, the Progress Review of the United Nations Global Refugee Forum (GRF) took place in Geneva, where the Archbishop of Tanzania spoke to advocate for ‘dignity and hope’ for all.
The Most Revd Dr Maimbo Mndolwa, (Archbishop and Primate of Tanzania and the Anglican Communion’s representative to the Multi-Religious Council of Leaders of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), recently addressed a meeting focusing on the global provision for refugees. His statement at the mid-term stocktaking between Global Refugee Forums to assess progress on the pledges made at the previous Forum, affirmed the Anglican Communion’s commitment to advocate for refugees at the international level while engaging in practical collaboration to provide support at the local level.
Archbishop Maimbo’s province, Tanzania, has been one of the Anglican provinces instrumental in assisting displaced people in its context, including refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi who are escaping conflict. Speaking about the role of the Church in supporting displaced people, Archbishop Maimbo remarked, ‘At Christmas we recall that Jesus was a refugee: in these divisive political times, let’s come together as Anglicans around work that is really important, enabling refugees and displaced people to have lives of dignity and hope.’
As a representative of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Maimbo reported on pledges previously made at the Forum and reaffirmed the Communion’s commitment to prioritise refugees, which is at the heart of the Christian calling.
Archbishop Maimbo shared that ‘Working alongside refugees and displaced people is the kind of thing we can focus on together as Anglicans in the current challenging global context – rolling up our sleeves and offering a more generous vision, based on our shared humanity. We will be urging the global leadership of the Communion to give this the highest priority as we enter 2026.’
Michael French, Anglican Communion Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, who joined Archbishop Maimbo at the Forum, commented that ‘at the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review, we have been keen to highlight that it is thanks to amazing, courageous people at the grassroots that Anglicans are making a difference. We do so alongside others of all faiths and none, and above all in solidarity with displaced people whose dignity, rights and agency are key.’
Anglican-Episcopal pledges at the Global Refugee Forum include supporting hands-on work with refugees in Brussels, Calais, Budapest, Egypt, Tanzania, Canada, the USA and many other parts of the world. This includes practical responses such as food and shelter, pastoral and psychosocial care, support to asylum seekers, protection, and addressing human trafficking.
The Rt Revd Mark D. W. Edington (Bishop in Charge from the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, TEC, and member of the Multi-Religious Council of Leaders, UNHCR) also addressed a meeting at the United Nations during the Progress Review of the GRF. Bishop Mark highlighted renewed pledges working with churches in the Czech Republic, the Philippines, Cyprus and the Gulf, Portugal and the Diocese in Europe, among others, in his own address to the Forum.
Archbishop Maimbo and Bishop Mark together signed a statement after this major UN event, expressing their grief at the conflict, climate disasters and apathy that force people to flee their homes and encouraging the Church that ‘we have among us, if we work together, the potential to set forth into the world a powerful, Gospel-centred witness to the dignity of all human beings as equal and precious children of God.’