UNHCR was created after the
Second World War with the pledge that people fleeing
persecution should be protected and not sent back to places
where they might be in danger. Today, that pledge is under
strain as deep funding cuts take effect.
In his first
keynote address to UNHCR’s Executive Committee meeting in
Geneva on Monday, Mr. Salih stressed that the world’s most
vulnerable are going without the help they
need.
“There is…a difference between doing
more with less and being asked to do the
impossible,” he said, while also highlighting the
“exceptionally difficult year” at the agency, marked by
the departure of 8,000 staff since
2024.
Cost of cuts in Sudan, Chad and
beyond
He added: “In Sudan,
insufficient funding threatens specialised medical care,
legal assistance and psychological support for more than
50,000 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. In
Chad, services for thousands of
unaccompanied and separated children and children with
specific protection needs are at risk.”
In
Ethiopia, meanwhile, refugee registration
has been halted for tens of thousands of people arriving
from South Sudan and Eritrea, while
hundreds of thousands more are awaiting verification and
integration into the national identification
system.
Worldwide crisis
Conflicts are
uprooting people faster than governments and aid agencies
can help them.
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So far in 2026, UNHCR has
responded to 22 emergencies in 18 countries, from Yemen to
the Horn of Africa and from Sudan to the
Sahel.
Despite growing humanitarian needs,
the agency has received less than one third of its funding
requirement for this year.
Mr. Salih warned that
countries that have hosted refugees for decades are
frustrated at the lack of international solidarity, while
refugees themselves are increasingly afraid for their
safety, amid deep cuts to assistance.
The result is
that women and girls are more exposed to violence and
exploitation, children are losing years of education and
persons with disabilities face protection barriers, the High
Commissioner said, in an appeal for greater
support.
“Efficiency has limits. There comes
a point when greater efficiency cannot compensate for fewer
resources. When funding falls below that point, the
consequences are not abstract, they are borne by people who
depend on it,” he insisted.
Inhumane
treatment
At the end of last month, Mr. Salih – a
former Kurdish politician and President of Iraq – told the
Security
Council that the situation for refugees today was
“genuinely, truly, inhumane”.
Speaking in Geneva,
the UNHCR chief highlighted an initiative launched earlier
this year that aims to halve the number of refugees
living in protracted displacement and depending on
humanitarian assistance by 2035.
Nearly 14.5
million refugees in low and middle-income countries
currently rely on aid to meet their basic requirements, he
said.
“We cannot claim success simply because
assistance has been reduced or responsibility has been
transferred to host countries,” he
added.
“Success is measured by whether
people’s lives have genuinely improved and whether they
have become self-reliant and active contributors to their
communities. For those who still require
humanitarian support, our responsibility
remains.”
Mr. Salih urged solidarity and empathy
with asylum-seekers, whose long-standing plight and hardship
remains unresolved around the world. “When we speak about
refugees and displacement, we should do so with humility,”
he said.
“None of us knows who may be forced to flee
tomorrow, or who may be called upon to offer
refuge.”
