Source: UN News. Text reproduced with attribution.

GENEVA — The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is facing severe strain as deep funding cuts threaten its core mission of protecting people fleeing persecution, UNHCR chief Salih warned on Monday.

Speaking in Geneva during his first keynote address to the UNHCR’s Executive Committee, Salih emphasized that the world's most vulnerable populations are being left without essential aid. He noted that the agency has had an “exceptionally difficult year,” marked by the departure of 8,000 staff members since 2024.

“There is…a difference between doing more with less and being asked to do the impossible,” Salih said.

Salih highlighted the tangible consequences of the funding shortfall across several crisis-hit nations:

  • Sudan: Lack of funding threatens specialized medical care, legal aid, and psychological support for more than 50,000 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Chad: Critical services are at risk for thousands of unaccompanied, separated, and highly vulnerable children. Ethiopia: Refugee registration has been suspended for tens of thousands of people arriving from South Sudan and Eritrea, while hundreds of thousands of others await verification and integration into the national ID system.

So far in 2026, UNHCR has responded to 22 emergencies across 18 countries, spanning from Yemen and the Sahel to Sudan and the Horn of Africa. Despite these escalating crises, the agency has received less than one-third of its required funding for the year.

Salih warned that long-term host countries are growing frustrated by a lack of international solidarity, while refugees face heightened anxiety over aid cuts. These shortfalls leave women and girls more vulnerable to violence and exploitation, disrupt years of education for children, and create protection barriers for people with disabilities.

“Efficiency has limits,” Salih stressed. "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."

The warning follows Salih's address to the UN Security Council late last month, where the former Kurdish politician and President of Iraq described the current situation for refugees as “genuinely, truly, inhumane.”

To address the crisis, Salih highlighted a UNHCR initiative launched earlier this year that aims to halve the number of refugees living in protracted displacement and relying on humanitarian aid by 2035. Currently, nearly 14.5 million refugees in low- and middle-income countries depend on aid for basic survival.

However, Salih cautioned against declaring premature victories. "We cannot claim success simply because assistance has been reduced or responsibility has been transferred to host countries,“ he said. ”Success is measured by whether people’s lives have genuinely improved and whether they have become self-reliant and active contributors to their communities."

Urging global leaders to show solidarity and humility, Salih concluded: “None of us knows who may be forced to flee tomorrow, or who may be called upon to offer refuge.”