GENEVA:
It is estimated that 2.5 million refugees worldwide must be resettled next year, the UN said Tuesday, at a time when the United States but also other nations are reducing access to resettlement.
UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency said the needs decreased slightly from this year, when it is estimated that around 2.9 million refugees need resettlement.
“This is mainly due to the changed situation in Syria, which has allowed voluntary returns,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Shabbia Mantoo, to journalists in Geneva.
“We are seeing some people withdraw from the resettlement processes in favor of the plans to go home to rebuild,” he added.
Mantoo said that in 2026, the populations of larger refugees that will probably need to be resettled were Afghan, Syrian, South Southnese, Rohingya of Myanmar and Congolese.
Most refugees will need to reap of the main host countries, including Iran, Türkiye, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda, he said.
The announcement occurred as acnur resettlement efforts face imposing obstacles.
“In 2025 … resettlement fees are expected to be the lowest in two decades, which fall below the levels observed even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries arrested their programs,” Mantoo said.
Part of the decline is linked to the United States, for a long time the largest refugee reetalla in the world, which has now closed its doors.
Shortly after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump stopped the US refugee resettlement program.
