Doha: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced that about 5,000 employees have lost their jobs at the agency since the beginning of 2025, more than a quarter of its total workforce, due to a significant decline in international funding.
According to Qatar News Agency, during the 76th plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner Programme, Grandi said that the financial crisis facing the agency is worsening as displacement increases around the world. He warned that the number of staff who may lose their jobs in the future could increase.
Grandi said the 2025 approved budget amounted to $10.6 billion, but UNHCR only received about half of that amount. He added that as it stands, UNHCR will end the year with $3.9 billion in available funds, a decrease of $1.3 billion compared to 2024 – or roughly 25% less.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees explained that the funding crunch has forced UNHCR to suspend critical programs and activities, including prevention of gender-based violence, psychological support for survivors of torture, closed schools, reduced food, cash assistance, and resettlement operations.
He emphasized that these measures affect millions of refugees and host communities around the world, and that the current situation is not limited to a financial crisis, but rather represents political choices with disastrous financial consequences for the entire international humanitarian system.
Grandi warned that continued declining funding could lead to the suspension of many field programs over the next year, calling on the international community to provide flexible funding worth $300 million before the end of 2025 to ensure the continuity of vital programs.
He stressed that recent aid cuts, particularly after the US, which previously contributed approximately 40% of the UNHCR’s budget, cut back, along with spending cuts by other major countries, have led to an extremely difficult situation for the UN agency.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees stressed that the simultaneous pressure on refugees, host countries, and the humanitarian system as a whole threatens a path of instability and renewed displacement, calling on member states and donors to quickly pledge funding for 2026 to avoid further negative repercussions on the lives of millions of people around the world.