The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has cut its staff by 30% by 2025 due to funding shortfall. The measures affect nearly 5,000 staff, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a speech to the Third Committee of the UNHCR General Assembly. The UNHCR press service published the text of his speech.
Grandi described the current funding cuts for UNHCR and the “humanitarian sector as a whole“ as “sharp and sudden“.
“We have reduced our staff by 30%, affecting nearly 5,000 colleagues, and have actively reduced costs,“ noted the UN High Commissioner. “We have reduced our operational activities around the world, consolidating or reducing our presence in 185 locations.“
UNHCR has done “everything possible“ to offset these cuts with internal resources, Grandi stressed, in order to “minimize the impact on refugees and host countries“.
“We project that by the end of the year we will have $1.3 billion, or 25%, less available funds than in 2024, and this will be a collapse in unearmarked contributions,” the UNHCR chief said.
“We also project that we will receive less than $4 billion this year out of a $10.6 billion budget. The last time we received less than $4 billion was in 2015, when the number of forcibly displaced people was half of what it is now, the High Commissioner said.
He stressed that these cuts would make it harder to save lives and fulfill UNHCR's mandate. Grandi therefore called on "all those who can help" to support UNHCR in overcoming its difficult financial situation by the end of this year and to make "early, flexible commitments" to fund the agency's activities until 2026.