« Europe is surrounded by a generation of countries in crisis »

According to a UN report, about 122 million people worldwide are displaced due to wars and conflicts. The situation in Sudan is especially serious, but also in Afghanistan Ukraine.

More and more people are leaving their homeland because of war, violence and persecution. At the same time, funds to help them are becoming increasingly few. This is the gloomy rating of a new report by the UN High Commissariat for Refugees (UNHCR). At the end of April, there were more than 122 million women, men and children forcibly displaced worldwide – two million more than last year.

According to the report, the number of displaced persons has doubled in the last ten years. While the financial resources available to UNHCR are at the same level as in 2015, according to Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. « We’re experiencing a dramatic decline in resources, » he says. This is partly due to the freezing of US contributions, but also because other countries are contributing less. « So we have less money and much more people to help in very complex situations, » Grandi points out.

The war moves 14 million people to Sudan

One of the most affected places is Sudan. The brutal war has forced nearly 14 million people to escape. Over one million refugees – mainly from the neighboring Sudan, are in Ethiopia. But for the Sudanese who have fled Ethiopia, UNHCR now has only half of the funds compared to 2024. The head of the UNHCR, Grandi explains the situation. « For example, we had to stop all the help of raped women in these wars-because the program was largely funded by the US. We have malnourished children, whose treatment in hospitals and refugee camps should be reduced to a minimum in order to create a place for even more malnourished children. »

Difficult situation even in Afghanistan and Ukraine

According to the latest UNHCR report, Sudan is the country with the most severe refugee crisis in the world. Other hot crisis hearths include Afghanistan, with more than ten million displaced, and Ukraine, with nearly nine million people. The UNHCR also includes people who are displaced within their country. They represent the majority: the number of people displaced within the country has increased by over six million, according to the report. The vast majority of refugees – as the new ratio once again confirms – do not live in rich regions like Europe, but in poor countries such as Ethiopia, which houses 73 percent of refugees compared to other countries in the world.

« But in rich countries there is always the perception that everyone wants to go there – that an uncontrollable invasion of refugees is coming. This perception is carefully cultivated by certain people in the political establishment they use it to win the election, » said Filippo Grandi.

According to a recent analysis by the Oxfam organization, G7 countries, the most important Western industrialized countries are expected to reduce development aid costs by 28 percent by 2026. Beyond the moral side, these political decisions are also « very short-light » in national interest, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Grandi. Because the lack of help will ultimately push people to flee to Europe.

« Europe is surrounded by a generation of countries in crisis, » Grandi said. « If we now have to halve humanitarian aid, as it happens, it will lead to migration movement. 250,000 Sudanese are currently in Libya because they can no longer receive help in Sudan or neighboring countries. And we all know: Going to Libya means moving forward – to Europe. »