UNHCR sounds alarm over funding crisis

United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih warned Monday about being “asked to do the impossible,” with his agency overstretched by a huge funding shortfall and heavy displacement.

The UN high commissioner for refugees said the UNHCR had slashed its workforce due to budget cuts, while the number of forcibly displaced people remains near record highs.

“We are asking more of the refugee response at precisely the moment when fewer resources are available to sustain it,” he said.

“As of October 9, we have funds available of $3 billion, representing 35 per cent of the requirement of the $8.5 billion needed for 2026.”

The UNHCR is currently forecasting funding of approximately $2.68 billion for 2027.

“I recognise the budget pressures governments face,” he said, “but there is again a difference between doing more with less and being asked to do the impossible.

“We cannot ask organisations, struggling to survive, to keep millions of others alive.”

Salih said that UNHCR has responded to 22 emergency declarations in 18 countries this year — including 17 newly-declared emergencies in 15 countries.

The former Iraqi president — himself a one-time refugee — spelt out the bleak situation while opening UNHCR’s annual executive committee meeting, which runs until Friday.

He said that since 2024, nearly 8,000 people had left UNHCR, with its workforce falling from nearly 20,000 to just under 12,000.

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The expertise that has left the agency cannot be easily replaced, he said.

– Hereditary displacement –

Some 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2025, according to UNHCR — down slightly from 2024’s record 123.2 million.

Of those 117.8 million, 35.6 million were refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, with two-thirds coming from Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan.

The United States — traditionally the world’s top donor — has slashed foreign aid under President Donald Trump, while other major donors have tightened their belts.

Of the $2.44 billion received in voluntary contributions in 2026, the UNHCR’s top donor was the European Union at $408 million, followed by Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark as the biggest contributing countries.

The United States was the ninth-biggest contributor with $89 million — down from $812 million last year.

China donated $1.8 million — slightly less than private donors in the Philippines.

Salih said that too often, what begins as a temporary solution for refugees becomes permanent, with children born in displacement settlements becoming adults there with children of their own.

“We must work toward a future where one generation of refugees is not forced to pass its displacement to the next,” he said.