The Lotus Flower at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva

In 2016, Taban Shoresh founded The Lotus Flower in her living room with no money. Fast forward to December 2023 and watch her being introduced by The High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva.

Taban was part of two multi-stakeholder pledges; the first one was called ‘Gender Equality and Protection from Gender-Based Violence’. Under this pledge, the Lotus Flower is committed to creating a Peace Centre in Kurdistan, which will be funded by the German Federal Government BMZ locally, and will also be supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s High Council of Women’s Affairs. The Peace Centre will bring together women from all backgrounds to promote their peace and security, as well as their roles in leadership, mediation and conflict resolution. It’s something The Lotus Flower has been working towards for a couple of years, so they’re so happy to see this vision finally becoming a reality. 

Secondly, Taban was part of the Referencing Group which worked with ICVA and UNHCR to form the Multistakeholder Advancing Localisation Pledge. This one is critical to ensure that local people and communities are involved, listened to and included in all responses to displacement and statelessness.