UNHCR warns funding shortfall is cutting core refugee protection services

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency’s chief warned Tuesday that a deep funding shortfall is now cutting into core protection services for refugees, not just back-office functions, as UNHCR heads into 2026 with only about $3 billion secured against an $8.5 billion budget.

Addressing a UNHCR Executive Committee meeting in Geneva on Oct. 12, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Ahmed Salih said the agency had funding for roughly 35% of what it says it needs this year. “Protection has a floor. Below it, the system does not simply become smaller. The protection we can provide begins to fail,” Salih said, according to Reuters.

The warning matters because UNHCR, the U.N. agency responsible for protecting and assisting refugees and other forcibly displaced people, is operating at a time of immense need. Its latest annual figures showed 117.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide at the end of 2025. That was the first annual decline in a decade, but the total remained near record levels.

Salih, the former president of Iraq who took office on Jan. 1, said the funding gap is already disrupting the practical systems that underpin refugee protection.

In Ethiopia, refugee registration for tens of thousands of people has been suspended or is at risk because of funding cuts, he said. Registration is a basic protection function that helps refugees access assistance and document their status. In Chad, specialized medical and legal assistance for more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence is in danger, he said. Salih also pointed to broader regional budget reductions, including in the Americas.

The message from Geneva was that efficiency measures are no longer enough. “There is a difference between doing more with less and being asked to do the impossible,” Salih said. The theme of his remarks was that efficiency has limits when core protection systems are being pared back.

UNHCR has already begun what Salih described as one of its largest restructurings. He said staffing has fallen from around 20,000 employees in 2024 to just under 12,000. The cuts reflect an agency trying to preserve frontline operations while shrinking rapidly, even as needs remain high across multiple displacement crises.

UNHCR’s finances are especially vulnerable because its budget is funded largely through voluntary contributions from governments and other donors, rather than guaranteed U.N. assessed dues. The shortfall has been driven by major aid cuts by several governments, including the United States, as well as a rise in tightly earmarked donations that limit the agency’s ability to move money where needs are greatest.

Tuesday’s warning did not come out of nowhere. In a May 15 letter to member states, Salih had already said available funds for 2026 were expected to be just over $3 billion, according to earlier reporting by Reuters and prior UNHCR-related reports. His remarks in Geneva suggested that the consequences he flagged then are now being felt in operational terms.

Salih said the picture for next year could still change after a UNHCR donor pledging conference in December 2026. For now, however, the agency is signaling that the strain is no longer mainly administrative. It is reaching the core services meant to identify, protect and support refugees at a time when tens of millions of displaced people still depend on them.