GENEVA (AN) — Up to 11.6 million refugees and displaced people are in jeopardy of losing critical humanitarian aid this year, UNHCR announced, attributing the crisis to severe budget cuts. This figure represents approximately one-third of all people the organization assisted last year.
The U.N. refugee agency's report on Friday details a "deadly confluence" of escalating displacement, dwindling financial support, and political indifference, with women and children bearing the brunt of the crisis.
"Behind these numbers are real lives, hanging in the balance," said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR's director of external relations, at a press briefing on Friday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. "Families are seeing the support they relied on vanish, forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines or paying rent, while hope for a better future slips out of sight."
Widespread impact on vital services
Every sector and operation has been impacted, forcing the suspension of critical support to maintain only life-saving aid.
In Chad and South Sudan, UNHCR has had to halt the movement of new arrivals from border areas to safer locations, leaving thousands stranded in remote, dangerous environments. Meanwhile, in Uganda, some reception centers are reporting soaring malnutrition rates due to limited access to clean water and food.
Health and education services are being scaled back globally. In Bangladesh, education for roughly 230,000 Rohingya refugee children is at risk of being suspended. Lebanon faces the potential closure of UNHCR's entire health program by year-end.
Financial aid and emergency relief item deliveries have seen a 60% global reduction, while shelter programs have been critically diminished. In Niger, cuts to financial aid for shelter have forced families into overcrowded conditions or left them homeless. Similar cuts in Ukraine and the surrounding region mean uprooted families can no longer afford basic necessities like rent, food, or medical treatment.
Rising vulnerability and undermined solutions
Programs for registration, child protection, legal counseling, and gender-based violence prevention and response have been severely affected. In South Sudan, 75% of UNHCR-supported safe spaces for women and girls have closed, leaving up to 8,000 refugee women and girls, including survivors of sexual violence, without access to vital medical care, psychosocial support, legal aid, or income-generating activities.
The funding crisis is also hindering resettlement efforts and the safe, voluntary return of refugees. Since the beginning of the year, approximately 1.9 million Afghans have returned home or been forcibly repatriated, but financial aid for their reintegration is barely enough for food, undermining efforts to ensure stable returns.
Severe funding gaps have also curtailed investments in digitizing asylum systems and promoting regularization efforts in countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Without legal status, refugees face prolonged insecurity, deepening poverty due to exclusion from formal employment, and increased exposure to exploitation.
The cuts, UNHCR warns, are actively undermining efforts to find long-term solutions. Even incentives for refugee volunteers have been severely impacted, threatening essential services and eliminating a crucial source of income for many refugees.
UNHCR's funding requirement for 2025 stands at $10.6 billion, but only 23% has been met halfway through the year. The agency stated that its teams are currently prioritizing life-saving efforts and protection for those forced to flee.
The UNHCR expressed gratitude to its steadfast donors and issued an urgent plea to governments, institutions, and people to significantly increase their financial contributions to bridge the current funding gap, emphasizing that should additional funding become available, the organization has the infrastructure and expertise to quickly scale up assistance.
