UN to evaluate refugee strategy

The United Nations will appraise its policies on refugees next week, due to an increase in armed conflict, the politicisation of asylum law and cuts to international aid.

Governments, civil society, the private sector and academics will jointly assess progress over the last few years and put forward new solutions at a Global Refugee Forum Review meeting from Monday to Wednesday.

Donor commitments are also expected, with the UN refugee agency facing a massive crisis.

The number of people forcibly displaced worldwide has almost doubled in the last decade to 117.3 million but funding for international aid has slumped, not least after the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

The United States previously provided more than 40 percent of the UNHCR budget but cuts by Washington since January, combined with belt-tightening from other major donor countries, have forced the organisation to shed nearly 5,000 jobs - more than a quarter of its workforce.

"Now is not the moment to step back - it is the moment to reinforce partnerships and send a clear message to refugees and host countries: you are not alone," said UNHCR's chief of the global compact on refugees section, Nicolas Brass.

The number of people forced to flee persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and serious unrest increased in 2024 to a record 123.2 million refugees, internally displaced and asylum-seekers.

At the end of last year, just over a third were from Sudan (14.3 million), Syria (13.5 million), Afghanistan (10.3 million) or Ukraine (8.8 million).

"Across countries and communities, support for refugees continues," said Brass, adding that two-thirds of the pledges made at the last Global Refugee Forum were "fulfilled or in progress".

Serious risk

According to the UNHCR, 10 countries have adopted new labour laws authorising refugees to work since 2019, which has helped more than 500,000 people.

Ten countries have strengthened their asylum system, including Chad, which adopted its very first asylum law.

But in a recent report, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said the "sharp decline" in funding this year and that "available solutions fall far short of global needs".

"Hard-won improvements are at serious risk," he added. "Without renewed political will, sustained financing and coherent multilateral cooperation, these pressures threaten to erode the very systems we have worked tirelessly to build."

Grandi is due to step down after 10 years at the helm and is expected to be succeeded by Iraq's former president Barham Salih.

"The global context is deteriorating amid continued conflict, record civilian deaths... and deepening political divides, which are driving displacement and straining the system," said Brass.

The UNHCR said burden-sharing remained unequal. Countries with only 27 percent of global wealth are hosting 80 percent of the world's refugees.

The agency recently highlighted that three-quarters of displaced people live in countries at high or even extreme risk from climate change.

From Monday, discussions among the 1,800 delegates and 200 refugees will centre around five themes: innovative financing; inclusion; safe pathways to third countries; transforming refugee camps into "humane settlements"; and long-term solutions.

Parallel events dedicated to major displacement situations will also be held, notably on Syria, Sudan and the Rohingya refugee crisis.