Major international aid cuts have pushed millions of vulnerable refugees toward a breaking point, with the UN refugee agency warning of “real lives hanging in the balance.” In a report released Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that $1.4 billion worth of vital humanitarian programmes have been shuttered or suspended worldwide due to a dramatic shortfall in donor support.
The impact of these budget slashes is already being felt across multiple crisis zones, from Sudan’s brutal conflict to Ukraine’s ongoing humanitarian fallout. “We can’t stop water, you can’t stop sanitation, but we’re having to take decisions when it comes, for example, to shelter,” said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations.
In Chad, where thousands are fleeing the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region daily, over 60 percent of refugees are now receiving “no shelter at all.” Hyde stressed the urgency: “We’re having people arriving…not able to be given any shelter.”
UNHCR warned that 11.6 million refugees, about a third of those it served last year, are at risk of losing access to direct humanitarian aid in 2024. Refugee registration, legal counselling, child protection, and services addressing gender-based violence are all among the affected sectors.
Vital Shelter Denied To Sudanese Refugees
In South Sudan, the consequences are dire. UNHCR reports that 75 percent of safe spaces for women and girls have shut down, affecting around 80,000 individuals, including survivors of sexual violence. These spaces previously offered medical care, psychosocial support, legal assistance, and income-generating activities.
“Behind these numbers are real lives hanging in the balance,” said Hyde. “Families are seeing the support they relied on vanish…while hope for a better future slips out of sight.” She noted that every UNHCR sector and operation has been impacted, with critical support now being sacrificed to preserve only the most essential life-saving aid.
The crisis is also shifting migration patterns. With limited resources in Chad and Egypt, many displaced by the Sudan war are now moving to Libya, risking deadly crossings via the Mediterranean. “What we’re observing now is…Sudanese refugees arriving in Europe has increased…by about 170 percent,” said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado.
The agency’s reach is shrinking beyond Africa. In Bangladesh, education for 230,000 Rohingya children may be suspended. Lebanon’s entire UNHCR health programme could shut down by year-end. In Niger, families already displaced by conflict face overcrowding and homelessness due to halted shelter funding.
“In Ukraine, financial aid has also been slashed, leaving uprooted families unable to afford rent, food, or medical treatment,” said Hyde. Meanwhile, support for some 1.9 million Afghans who returned or were forced back in 2024 is now “barely enough to afford food, let alone rent.”
Even legal aid has not been spared. In Latin American countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico, funding cuts are forcing UNHCR to scale back programmes aimed at helping displaced persons regularize their legal status. “Prolonged lack of legal status means prolonged insecurity,” Hyde warned, adding it exposes refugees to exploitation and abuse.
Globally, about one in every three UNHCR offices has been affected. “We’re not in a position to do so much contingency planning…At this point, the priorities are dramatic,” Hyde said from Geneva.
The agency has appealed for $10.6 billion to fund operations in 2025, but only 23 percent of that amount has been secured so far. “Should additional funding become available,” Hyde stated, “UNHCR has the systems, partnerships, and expertise to rapidly resume and scale up assistance.”
With no signs of the world’s crises slowing down, the consequences of these budget shortfalls could be devastating, not just for refugees, but for global stability.
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