GNV News 2025 June 20

2025 June 20 is “World Refugee Day.” However, humanitarian assistance, including support for refugees, is in a dire situation due to the United Nations’ worst-ever financial crisis.

In 2024 December, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which coordinates the UN’s overall humanitarian response, led the release of the ” 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO).” According to it, the amount of humanitarian funding to be raised through the UN was US$44 billion. Even at that level, it would still leave 115 million people without assistance; yet by mid-2025, only 13%—US$5.6 billion—had been raised. In response, OCHA announced on 2025 June 16 a further prioritization, a “hyper-prioritized” strategy. The appeal has been cut to US$29 billion, and the number of people targeted for assistance narrowed from about 180 million to 114 million. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, said, “We are being forced to triage human survival,” emphasizing that they will do everything possible to save the most lives with limited resources.

As of 2025 May, the UN’s food assistance arm had received only 9% of the amount it said it needed, forcing it to scale back life-saving operations. Yet global hunger remains severe, and according to the “Hunger Hotspots report” released on June 16 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), acute food insecurity could deteriorate sharply within five months in 13 countries and territories, mainly due to armed conflict and climate change. In particular, Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine, Haiti, and Mali are already in catastrophic conditions on the brink of famine.

Among humanitarian assistance agencies, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on June 16 that, while prioritizing maintaining operations in areas with the most urgent refugee needs, it will reduce personnel costs by about 30% by cutting approximately 3,500 permanent staff, ending the contracts of hundreds of temporary staff, and downsizing or closing offices worldwide. UNHCR’s available funding is at almost the same level as 10 years ago, but the number of people forcibly displaced has doubled over the past 10 years, exceeding 122 million.

Learn more about global humanitarian assistance → “Deaths in conflict and the reality of humanitarian assistance“

Learn more about issues facing refugees → “Refugees: Their current situation and widening disparities“

Learn more about the UN’s financial difficulties → “United Nations: Crisis due to funding shortfalls“

Transport assistance for vulnerable refugees by UNHCR (Photo: IOM / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])