UNHCR's Salih: We must protect refugees, but tackle indefinite displacement
UNHCR's Salih: We must protect refugees, but tackle indefinite displacement
Delegates look on as UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih speaks at the opening session of the Executive Committee at the Palais des Nations, Geneva.
GENEVA – New conflicts, increasingly protracted crises and cuts to aid funding are accelerating global forced displacement faster than it can be resolved, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih warned Member States on Monday, adding that behind the historic figure of 117 million people forced to flee were “painful, tragic human realities”.
Delivering his first address to UNHCR’s annual session of the Executive Committee in Geneva, the High Commissioner said he had approached his first nine months in office – and the responsibility of helping those under UNHCR’s mandate – from a deeply personal perspective, having both experienced forced displacement and served as a former head of state.
“I know what it means to need protection. And I know the difficult decisions governments must make. I understand how profoundly those decisions can shape people's lives,” Salih said. “The pressures are real. So are our responsibilities.”
Since taking office in January, the High Commissioner has visited 15 UNHCR operations around the world, from Chad to Ukraine, Ethiopia to Afghanistan, and Syria to Venezuela.
UNHCR's Barham Salih walks in the Petare neighbourhood of Caracas, Venezuela, with Andriuska Bello, who returned in January from Ecuador.
These trips not only revealed the scale of the challenge facing UNHCR at a difficult moment in the organization’s history but also reinforced a core conviction.
“We must protect people when they are forced to flee, but we cannot accept indefinite displacement as their future,” he said. “We must measure success not only by the lives we save, but by the lives people are able to rebuild, and the lasting solutions they can find.”
That principle is at the heart of UNHCR’s 50 by 35 vision, which aims to halve the number of refugees in protracted displacement in low- and middle-income countries who rely on humanitarian aid for survival, currently totalling some 14.5 million people.
UNHCR will pursue this ambitious goal by working with partners from government, development institutions, the private sector, civil society, and refugee-led organizations, taking practical steps to increase refugee inclusion and self-reliance, and ultimately secure lasting solutions to displacement such as voluntary return.
Among the new initiatives announced by the High Commissioner in support of the vision were a Global Strategy for Self-Reliance to expand refugee access to employment, finance, entrepreneurship and markets; a 50 by 35 Accelerator to provide flexible, multi-year funding for fast-tracking self-reliance, inclusion and solutions initiatives; and an Aiming Higher initiative to boost refugee access to university and other forms of higher education.
Salih, who has made refugee education a priority, speaks to pupils at a school in Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Kakuma, Kenya, in January 2026.
“But let me be clear: 50 by 35 is not a target to reduce humanitarian assistance. It is a commitment to reduce the need for it,” Salih stressed. “Success must be measured by whether people's lives have actually improved, and they have become self-sufficient and contributing members of communities. For those who continue to need humanitarian support, our responsibility remains.”
Success will require mobilizing additional resources for refugee-hosting countries, with 80 per cent of all refugees currently living in countries that jointly account for just 27 per cent of global wealth. “Inclusion cannot be financed by goodwill alone,” the High Commissioner said. “Their leadership must be matched by international support.”
While the Global Compact on Refugees already provides a framework for the cooperation needed to achieve the vision, the most recent data shows a clear gap between the commitments made by host countries and the financial and other resources delivered by the international community. Salih pointed to the next Global Refugee Forum in 2027 as a vital opportunity to close the gap.
Reform agenda
The High Commissioner also pointed to the reforms undertaken by UNHCR during a period of “profound change”. UNHCR has adapted to new realities and priorities by tightening financial controls, increasing efficiency, prioritizing operational delivery and undertaking “one of the most significant workforce adjustments” in its history.
Staffing levels have been reduced by more than a third, dropping from nearly 20,000 in 2024 to just under 12,000 today. UNHCR’s 2026 budget currently stands at $3 billion, or around 35 per cent of the total $8.5 billion it requires.
“Our goal is not simply a smaller UNHCR. It is a stronger UNHCR, focused on where we add the greatest value and better able to deliver protection, assistance and solutions to refugees and the communities that host them,” Salih said.
“But efficiency has limits,” he continued. “There is a difference between doing more with less and being asked to do the impossible.”
The High Commissioner concluded by reminding delegates of the promise enshrined 75 years ago in the Refugee Convention: that people fleeing persecution must be able to seek protection, and refugees must not be returned to places where their lives or freedoms are threatened.
That promise, which has saved generations of lives, remains as vital as ever but is being tested as never before, he said.
“Seventy-five years from now, another generation will look back at the choices we make today. Will they see a world that turned away when responsibility became difficult? Or one that remembered the lessons of its own history?”
