GENEVA, Oct 8 — Due to a drastic drop in funding commitments, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has cut almost 5,000 employees worldwide this year, reported German news agency dpa.
This means that a quarter of all staff have lost their jobs, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in Geneva on Monday.
As of June 2024, the UNHCR employed around 15,400 permanent staff and 4,400 other people in more than 130 countries, bringing the total to just under 20,000.
The measures are in line with the UNHCR’s financial situation. At the end of the year, the aid organisation would have an estimated US$3.9 billion at its disposal – around a quarter less than in the previous year, Grandi said at the annual meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee.
As a result, various UNHCR activities have already been stopped, including programmes for torture victims. Schools have been closed and food and financial aid for refugees has been cut.
Grandi did not directly address the significant cuts in US aid funding, which also hit the UNHCR hard.
He said: “I am worried that the current debate – in Europe, for example – and some current deportation practices – such as in the United States – address real challenges in manners not consistent with international law.”
The UNHCR chief also pointed out that most of the 122 million refugees and displaced persons had not found refuge in North America or Europe, but in poorer countries.
