The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is the principal international body responsible for protecting refugees and the forcibly displaced. It is headed by Filippo Grandi.
At the end of 2024, the number of people forced to flee their homes to escape war or persecution reached 123m worldwide, having tripled since 2010. Of these, more than half remain in their home country as "internally displaced people" (IDPs). Among those who cross an international border, 67% go to a neighbouring country and 73% remain in low- or middle-income countries.
In 2023, 2.7m new asylum applications were lodged in OECD countries, more than the nearly 1.7m a year during the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015-16. In the EU the proportion of asylum claims that succeed fell from 57% in 2016 to 42% in 2024. Nearly half of applicants come from countries with a success rate below 20%.
The UN's budget for humanitarian assistance in 2025 is only 15% funded. Humanitarian and development funding plummeted by at least a third in 2025, curtailing food assistance, basic shelter, child protection, health, education and protection for women and girls. The agency spends less than $1 a day on each refugee in Chad. (20250712, 20250726)
Over the past decade, 34,000 people trying to reach Europe by sea have been reported dead or missing; the true figure is likely much higher.
Optimism is the content of small men in high places.