With 117 Million People Forcibly Displaced, UN Refugee Chief Tells Security Council ‘When Peace Fails, People Move’
“Displacement is rapidly outpacing solutions,” warned today the head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in his first Security Council address since his election to the post in December 2025, urging the 15-member organ to fulfil its “unique” responsibility for maintaining peace.
“Today, more than 117 million people have been forced to flee their homes by conflict, violence, persecution and other threats to their safety,” said UNHCR head Barham Salih, pointing out that, with conflicts multiplying or becoming protracted, and political solutions elusive, “millions of people who fled what they hoped would be a temporary crisis find themselves displaced for years, sometimes for generations”.
“When peace fails, people move,” he said, repeating his appeal to the Council to use its political influence to end conflicts and sustain peace processes. “A ceasefire that holds can allow a family to remain at home. A peace agreement can allow refugees to return,” he said, adding that, while humanitarian organizations deal every day with the consequences of conflict, “humanitarians cannot create peace”.
Touching on theatres of war where peace is elusive, including the Western Sahara; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also grappling with the Ebola crisis; and Yemen, where UNHCR has declared a Level 1 emergency, he spotlighted Sudan, which “remains the largest displacement crisis in the world”, with nearly 12 million people forcibly displaced. Recounting his meetings with Sudanese refugees fleeing horrific violence in neighbouring countries such as Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt during his first months as High Commissioner, he urged the Council to bring the conflict to an end, stressing: “As long as this war continues, people will continue to flee.”
Noting that this year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, he said that, while asylum systems are under strain, this is no reason to retreat from refugee protection. However, underscoring that refugees do not want their lives defined by displacement, he spotlighted UNHCR’s 50 by 35 Vision, which aims to reduce by half the number of refugees in long-term displacement reliant on humanitarian assistance by 2035.
Countries of Origin Describe Broken Lives, Daily Tragedy
“Forced displacement is not a far-off reality, it’s a daily tragedy” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said that country’s delegate, stating that, due to the armed conflict raging in the east — “a ticking time bomb, which must be addressed before it goes off” — more than 1.3 million Congolese live as refugees outside the country, while 6 million are internally displaced. “Behind these figures are broken lives, separated families, children deprived of a childhood, men and women compelled to flee their homes and leave behind, at times, any hope of a future,” he said, pointing out that the situation has humanitarian, social, economic and psychological ramifications that “ripple down through generations”. Voluntary return cannot be sustainable without security, basic services and economic prospects, he noted.
Return without reintegration is “simply displacement by another name”, chimed in Liberia’s representative, stressing that a refugee cannot return to a home that is still a battlefield. Thus, the work of the Council must be connected with the Peacebuilding Commission and international financial institutions.
Speaking “as a nation of former refugees”, he noted that “displacement does not have to be a permanent address, and international solidarity works.”
Host Countries and Calls for Equitable Burden-Sharing
“As displacement increases, international solidarity is under strain,” concurred Nabeel Munir, Additional Foreign Secretary, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, noting that his country “knows this reality first hand”. For more than four decades, Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghans, extending protection and hospitality despite considerable economic challenges.
“Solidarity must be spread around,” chimed in Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Panama, calling for resources and support for host countries and communities. His region knows what displacement, exile and migration mean, he said, also pointing out that, as a transit country, Panama has learned that borders can separate territories, but they cannot separate human dignity. “Each refugee is also a question to the Security Council about the war that led them to flee,” he said, adding that Venezuela represents one of the largest population displacements of our time.
Meanwhile, Greece’s delegate stated that her country’s geopolitical position brings it “very often before the human drama”, pointing out that irregular entries from the Central Mediterranean route put a significant pressure on her country. She expressed support for the “route-based approach” being developed by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), also underscoring the importance of making a clear distinction between refugees and migrants at an early stage to prevent an abuse of the asylum system.
Support for UNHCR, Refugees, Political Solutions
France’s delegate, Council President for September, speaking in his national capacity, noted that “7 out of 10 refugees under UNHCR’s mandate come from just six States, most of which are on the Council’s agenda”. Beyond the neighbouring countries, which bear the bulk of the burden, the reception and protection of refugees is a universal legal obligation, he said, reaffirming commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention. France’s multi-stakeholder initiative “Avec Elles” (“With Them”) has led to hundreds of projects for greater integration of refugee women and girls. He also praised UNHCR’s forthcoming “Aiming Higher” education initiative, which aims to improve refugees’ access to higher education.
“If we want fewer refugees and fewer displaced people, we must end and prevent the conflicts driving them in the first place,” said Denmark’s delegate, stressing: “That is fundamentally the task of this Council.” She went on to voice alarm over the plight of Ukrainians and Gazans, as well as the “dangerous knock-on effects” of the conflict in the Gulf, and the consequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, impeding the movement of fuel and fertilizers. “The vicious cycle in which conflict transmits hunger globally, and hunger transmits displacement back must be broken,” she said. Against that backdrop, she urged donors to step up and assist, as “UNHCR is being asked to do more with less”. Denmark is a leading donor to UNHCR and among the largest providers of unearmarked funding, allowing UNHCR to act where the need is greatest.
“We need asylum systems that work — for refugees,” said the representative of the United Kingdom. Expressing support for UNHCR’s 50 by 35 Vision, he said that change starts with protection. “To ‘protect protection’, asylum systems must be credible,” he noted, reporting that his country is working with international financial institutions to get development finance to refugee-hosting countries. The United Kingdom is funding activities in 50 countries, helping to bring 200,000 refugee children into national education systems across the world. Fundamentally, States need to confront why people are fleeing, he added, stressing: “This Council has the tools to act on root causes. It now needs the political will to use them.”
Tackle Root Causes
Bahrain’s delegate was among several speakers emphasizing the need to tackle the root causes of conflicts and prevent their outbreak or recurrence. She also stressed the need to strengthen international cooperation in reconstruction, early recovery, demining, clearing explosive remnants of war, rebuilding infrastructure and restoring basic services. Such efforts create the conditions necessary for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of civilians, she said.
Latvia’s delegate noted that the Council has the responsibility to address the structural causes of displacement, not just the humanitarian consequences, pointing out that most refugees and internally displaced people are from highly climate-vulnerable countries. Climate shock makes the conditions for sustained peace and safe return more difficult; therefore, the Council must take climate and environmental challenges into account and “focus on climate, peace and security in conflict-prevention and peacebuilding frameworks”, he said.
Humanitarian assistance saves lives, but cannot replace political solutions, said Somalia’s delegate, stressing the need to address root causes: conflict, foreign occupation and persecution, among others. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory remains a central cause of Palestinian displacement, he said. Noting the continued loss of life in the Mediterranean, he encouraged States concerned to uphold obligations under international maritime and refugee law.
Likewise, China’s delegate underscored the need to prioritize political solutions to conflicts, including recurring escalations in the Middle East and the conflict in Sudan, pointing out that “so long as fighting continues, the refugee crisis will remain fundamentally unresolved”. The Council should urge the parties to renounce violence and achieve a lasting ceasefire, he said, voicing concern about the plight of more than 2 million Gazans who remain displaced and rejecting the forced displacement of Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank.
End Displacement, Don’t Manage It
Stressing that deterring and ending displacement rather than managing it must be the goal, the delegate of the United States reported that, in 2025, the United States contributed $1.4 billion in humanitarian assistance to UNHCR, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and IOM. It additionally provided billions of dollars through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She highlighted the United States-brokered “Washington Accords” between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as well as renewed efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Colombia’s delegate said that “the right to asylum is a human right, but the right to refuse certain refugees is a completely constitutional right”. Colombia is a country of origin, transit and a host country, hosting the largest refugee population in the Americas, he said, noting that there are nearly 2.5 million Venezuelan refugees. Also pointing to the Haitian crisis, he said drug trafficking is changing refugee populations.
The representative of the Russian Federation observed that her country hosts and assists displaced persons from various States, including Ukrainian refugees. “For us, these people are our kin,” she noted, stressing that they can always count on finding “a home” in the Russian Federation. Europeans are “starting to get tired of being such consummate hosts,” she said, adding: “The most effective way of resolving forced migration is addressing the root causes compelling people to leave their homeland.”