Statement to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly

Thank you Mr. Chair,

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

It is an honour to address the Third Committee for the first time as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and to present my annual report on the work of the Office.

I assumed this responsibility at a difficult moment for the international system, to say the least.

Conflicts are becoming more protracted. Displacement lasts longer. Humanitarian resources are shrinking. And millions of people who fled what they hoped would be a temporary crisis find themselves displaced for years, sometimes for generations.

Today, more than 117 million people have been forced to flee their homes by conflict, violence, persecution, and other threats.

Behind that figure is a simple political reality:

When peace fails, people move.

We see this in Sudan, where the conflict has displaced millions.

We see it in Ukraine, where war continues to destroy homes, infrastructure and lives.

And we see it, today, in Yemen, where renewed conflict has forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

Humanitarian organisations can respond to displacement. But humanitarian action cannot indefinitely compensate for unresolved wars and conflicts.

We can protect people. We can provide assistance. We can help families survive and rebuild. And we will look for opportunities to move towards durable solutions in line with informed and voluntary choices of refugees.

But we cannot end wars.

This requires political leadership, diplomacy, and sustained engagement by States, regional organisations and this very United Nations.

This is why refugee protection and the search for peace must be much more closely connected.

Asylum protects people when peace has failed. But we cannot wait for peace before improving their lives.

Millions of refugees have lived in exile for years. Too many cannot work legally, move freely, or access national education, health, and economic systems.

That is neither sustainable nor dignified.

Our objective must be to move, wherever possible, from dependency to self-reliance; from parallel humanitarian systems to strengthened national systems; and from prolonged displacement towards solutions.

This is the ambition behind our agenda of 50by35.

By 2035, our vision is to reduce by half the number of refugees in long-term displacement who remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, through greater self-reliance and lasting solutions.

This is not, Excellencies, about reducing assistance.

It is about reducing the need for it.

And refugees who can work can support a family and contribute to the economies of their host communities.

A child in school is building a future.

A family able to access health care, documentation, and financial services through national systems is less dependent on humanitarian assistance.

But inclusion cannot be financed by goodwill alone.

Schools need teachers. Health systems need capacity. Municipalities need infrastructure. Economic inclusion requires investment and jobs.

Host countries need development investment. International financial institutions and development actors, the private sector, and humanitarian organisations must work together.

And refugees themselves must have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their lives.

Mr. Chair,

Self-reliance matters. But it is not, by itself, a durable solution.

For many refugees, their deepest hope remains to go home.

Where conditions permit, we should help make that possible.

We see opportunities, in very different circumstances, in Syria, in Afghanistan, and in Venezuela.

In Syria, people are returning after years of devastating conflict. Some 1.8 million refugees from neighboring countries and more than two million internally displaced people have returned to their areas of origin since December 2024.

But crossing the threshold home is only the beginning. Return will endure, and will be sustainable, only if people have security, documentation, housing, livelihoods, and functioning services.

In Afghanistan, nearly seven million Afghans have returned from neighbouring countries since 2023, often under difficult circumstances and not always voluntarily.

Communities already facing poverty and limited services are under enormous pressure.

Sustainable integration requires greater investment. And Afghanistan's recovery, for sure, cannot succeed while women and girls are denied their rights and full participation in society.

In Venezuela, too, there are important opportunities to support people who voluntarily choose to return and contribute to their country's future.

These situations, Excellencies, are very different.

But they point to an important lesson:

When an opening for solutions emerges, that is not the moment for the international community to leave. It is the moment to stay engaged.

UNHCR needs to be there.

Not to promote returns before conditions permit. Not to make political judgements on behalf of refugees. But to protect their choices and help ensure those who return can rebuild their lives.

Because crossing a border home is an event. A solution is what comes after.

There are also situations where the conditions for returns are simply not there.

For the Rohingya, conditions in Myanmar are not conducive to voluntary, safe, and dignified, and sustainable return.

A sustainable solution requires rights, citizenship, freedom of movement and security.

In the meantime, Bangladesh cannot be left to shoulder this responsibility alone.

And for more than half a century, generations of Sahrawi refugees have lived in camps near Tindouf.

Their humanitarian needs remain real, as does their hope for a future beyond protracted displacement.

UNHCR’s work must always remain firmly anchored in its humanitarian mandate.

Despite severe resource constraints, we continue to uphold our protection responsibilities, and in line with our full mandate, we will equally remain ready to respond as developments create genuine opportunities for solutions, based on the free and informed choices of refugees, wherever and whenever that might occur.

Refugees must not become instruments of political disputes.

The rights of refugees, their choices, and their dignity must remain at the centre.

This is the continuum of our responsibility:

When people are forced to flee, we must be there to provide protection.

While they are displaced, we must help them live with dignity and recover control over their lives.

And when genuine opportunities for solutions emerge, we must help make those solutions sustainable.

Mr. Chair,

We must also defend the institution of asylum.

This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

States have the right and responsibility to manage their borders and migration systems. But they must do so consistently with international refugee and human rights law, including the principle of non-refoulement.

Asylum systems must be credible, fair and efficient.

We should safeguard them against abuse while ensuring that people who need protection can obtain it.

These objectives, Excellencies, are not contradictory. They reinforce one another.

We do not need to retreat from the Refugee Convention. We need to implement it better.

We must also, Excellencies, confront another reality.

That humanitarian systems itself must change and adapt.

Resources are simply not keeping pace with needs.

UNHCR has reduced costs, tightened financial controls, reduced its footprint and undertaken a major workforce adjustment.

We are simplifying structures, reducing duplication and placing greater authority and responsibility closer to our operations.

We must work increasingly through national systems where they can deliver protection effectively, and make better use of partnerships, technology, and common services across the United Nations system.

But efficiency has limits.

There comes a point when efficiency cannot compensate for insufficient resources.

And when we cross that point, the consequences are borne not by institutions, but by the people who depend on protection.

That makes responsibility-sharing, truly, indispensable.

Most refugees are hosted by countries with considerably fewer resources. Their leadership must be matched by international support.

International solidarity must be practical.

It means humanitarian financing.

It means development investment.

It means resettlement and complementary pathways.

It means investing in communities that host refugees.

And, above all, it means sustained political engagement with the conflicts that produce displacement in the first place.

Refugees rarely ask for extraordinary things.

They want safety.

They want their children educated.

They want to work and support their families.

And they want the chance to determine their own future.

Our responsibility is to protect that possibility.

We must be there when people are forced to flee.

We must defend the asylum system.

We must stand with the countries and communities that receive refugees.

We must help people move from dependency towards inclusion, agency and self-reliance.

And when opportunities emerge for people to go home, we must be there too, helping to make return voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable.

Ultimately, Excellencies, our success cannot be measured by how many people UNHCR assists.

It must also be measured by how many people are able to rebuild their lives and no longer need our assistance.

That requires protection.

It requires inclusion and self-reliance.

It requires solutions.

And, above all, it requires peace.

Thank you.