Connecting Refugees: Why Digital Inclusion Cannot Be Left Behind

For people uprooted by conflict, access to digital networks is essential. Connectivity enables education, health care, information and protection for those forced to flee, often during the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Once refugees begin settling in new host communities, digital access becomes a lifeline that supports economic participation, skills development and the rebuilding of livelihoods.

Yet millions of refugees, along with the communities that host them, remain offline. Barriers to digital inclusion continue to be widespread, particularly in remote or underserved regions. Infrastructure gaps, high costs, limited financing, and a lack of devices and digital skills prevent displaced people from accessing the opportunities that come with connectivity. For many families, choosing between data and basic needs is still a daily reality.

To address these challenges, governments, the private sector, civil society and United Nations agencies met on 3 December in Geneva for a high-level roundtable focused on closing the connectivity gap for forcibly displaced populations. Young people from a refugee community in eastern Chad also joined the discussion virtually from the Farchana Connected Centre, sharing the impact that digital access has had on their education and future prospects.

The session highlighted urgent actions to advance digital inclusion under the Connectivity for Refugees initiative, led by the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Refugee Agency, the GSMA and the Government of Luxembourg. ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin emphasized that meaningful connectivity is not a luxury for displaced people but a lifeline that links them to family, knowledge, safety and opportunity.

Participants identified four priority areas for immediate progress: expanding access to devices, making connectivity more affordable, extending digital infrastructure to rural and crisis-affected areas, and strengthening digital skills, safety and trust so that online access becomes genuinely empowering.

The partners aim to provide meaningful and affordable connectivity to 20 million forcibly displaced people and members of host communities by 2030. Launched in 2023, the initiative is already showing tangible results. Recent field visits to refugee settlements in Chad demonstrated how access to digital tools can help build more resilient and self-reliant communities.

Representatives also underscored that humanitarian operations have a responsibility to bridge the digital divide. Delivering devices, lowering connectivity costs, investing in infrastructure and supporting digital literacy programmes are central to ensuring dignity and opportunity for people forced to flee.

Achieving this vision will require collective leadership. As Bogdan-Martin noted, the families met in Ethiopia and Chad are counting on a global effort to ensure that no displaced person is left offline. Digital inclusion is not only a technological goal. It is a cornerstone of protection, inclusion and human dignity for millions seeking safety and a future beyond crisis.

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