UN refugee chief says protection is buckling as 117 million people remain forcibly displaced
12 October 2026
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih told UNHCR's Executive Committee in Geneva on Monday, 12 October 2026, in his first keynote address to it, that the global protection system for asylum seekers risks buckling under funding cuts.
Some 117 million men, women and children are now forced from their homes.
UNHCR has received 3 billion dollars of the 8.5 billion dollars it needs this year, less than a third of its requirement.
Salih called it an exceptionally difficult year for the agency, marked by the departure of 8,000 staff since 2024.
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.
He said funding gaps in Sudan threaten specialised medical care, legal assistance and psychological support for more than 50,000 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and that in Ethiopia refugee registration has been halted for tens of thousands arriving from South Sudan and Eritrea.
Nearly 14.5 million refugees in low- and middle-income countries depend on aid for their basic needs, and an initiative launched this year aims to halve the number in protracted displacement and dependent on aid by 2035.
"Efficiency has limits," Salih said. He is a former President of Iraq.
In plain words
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — The UN refugee agency, created after the Second World War to protect people fleeing persecution.
Non-refoulement — The rule that a person fleeing persecution must not be sent back to a place where they would be in danger.
Executive Committee — The body of states that approves UNHCR's programmes and budget and meets in Geneva each October.
Protracted displacement — A situation in which refugees remain away from home for years with no settled solution.