The Torkham border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has seen a surge of Afghan families returning home, driven by Pakistan’s Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan. In April, around 144,000 Afghans returned, including nearly 30,000 deported individuals. Many, like Ezatullah and his seven children, arrived with few belongings and uncertain futures, having lived in Pakistan for decades. With rising unemployment and poverty in Afghanistan, Ezatullah worries about providing for his family, emphasizing the importance of education for his children. Meanwhile, deportations are also occurring in Iran. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is offering emergency assistance, urging for $71 million in support to aid returnees, particularly women and children, as funding cuts severely limit their capacity to help those in need.

On April 15, 84 residents from the Areesha camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in northeast Syria began their journey home after more than seven years, assisted by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Among them was Shahrzad and her two daughters, aged 7 and 8, who were excited to reunite with their father in Al Mayadin, after he spent two months in Damascus for medical treatment. Shahrzad expressed her long-awaited joy, having fled a military offensive in 2017. Her youngest daughter was born in the camp, and both children have no memories of their parents' hometown. While UNHCR plans to support the return of about 3.5 million Syrian refugees and IDPs by 2025, their efforts face significant obstacles due to drastic cuts to global humanitarian funding, resulting in job reductions and the closure of community centers in Syria.

After surviving a devastating missile strike, 70-year-old Nadiia found safety, shelter, and healing thanks to UNHCR’s rapid response and flexible donor support.

Unprecedented cuts in global humanitarian funding are having severe impacts on Sudanese refugees in Chad, with clinics, schools and programmes to protect women and children from violence and exploitation forced to shut down. Reproductive health services have suffered significantly, with maternity wards closing, forcing women to give birth at home without medical care, leading to increased deaths. Over 8,500 displaced children may lose access to secondary education this year due to funding cuts, with the potential for over 155,000 refugee children to be left without education by 2026.  Chad hosts 1.3 million displaced people, including over 760,000 Sudanese refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict. Families continue to arrive daily, adding pressure to an already impoverished nation facing extreme weather and instability.

United Nations Refugee Agency swiftly provides lifesaving aid to displaced people worldwide, mobilizing staff and supplies for 1 million individuals within 72 hours. Please donate today to help us reach the most vulnerable.

The lack of available funds and deep uncertainty over the level of donor contributions this year has forced the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) to suspend all medical treatment for refugees in Egypt except emergency life-saving procedures. The suspensions include cancer surgery, chemotherapy, heart surgery and medication for chronic diseases. Among the worst affected will be the over 1.5 million Sudanese in Egypt, escaping what is now the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. At present, UNHCR is prioritizing critical life-saving activities and helping the most vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied children and survivors of sexual violence and torture. Yet without an urgent increase in funding, even these programmes are under threat.

Sana Khaled’s family, displaced for six years, returns home amid challenges faced by over 7.4 million displaced Syrians, highlighting the urgent need for international support.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, nearly 11 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes and are now either displaced within their own country or living as refugees abroad. Of those displaced within Ukraine, more than half are women and a quarter are children. Despite all the death and destruction, a recent UNHCR survey found that 61 per cent of Ukrainian refugees and 73 per cent of displaced people want to return home one day. Since the start of the war, UNHCR has delivered over 410,000 emergency shelter kits and materials in the immediate aftermath of attacks, provided psychosocial support to around 300,000 affected people, and repaired more than 37,000 war-damaged homes. In 2025, the United Nations is appealing for $3.83 billion to fund the ongoing humanitarian and refugee responses.

After 13 years in Jordan, 80-year-old Hassan Mohammad Alhassan, a Syrian refugee, boarded a bus in Amman, filled with hope for his long-awaited return to Syria, despite the challenges ahead.

Suhaila's desire for stability is deeply rooted in her experience of fleeing Afghanistan at the age of four. Despite initial challenges, she and her family slowly adapted in Kyrgyzstan, with education and language classes from UNHCR helping them integrate.

Post-election unrest since October has forced thousands of Mozambicans and refugees to flee their homes. Additional displacement and misery have come in the wake of Cyclone Chido and Cyclone Dikeledi, which have left trails of destruction across the north of the country since December. Repeated climate shocks like these have added to the suffering of vulnerable populations, including people already displaced by the ongoing armed conflict in northern Cabo Delgado Province. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) describes this triple crisis based on climate change, conflict and political unrest.

As cold winter weather arrives, the UN Refugee Agency, is working to protect the forcibly displaced with shelter, clothes, fuel and food. At this time of the year, your donations can make all the difference.

Even by the standards of recent years, 2024 was a year of turmoil in which new conflicts erupted, existing crises seethed, and climate-fueled disasters multiplied. As a result, the number of people forced to flee their homes by conflict and persecution reached nearly 123 million by the end of June. That number has undoubtedly risen further with the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and the hundreds of thousands who continue to flee violence in Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere. While new displacement is on the rise, millions of people are trapped in situations of prolonged exile – unable to safely return home but lacking the possibility to rebuild their lives in the places they have fled to. 

Adolat Shabozova's journey from statelessness to obtaining Tajikistan citizenship in 2022 ended decades of uncertainty, bringing new opportunities for her and her children's future.

Aminata Soucko, a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation and abuse, founded Red Aminata to empower and support survivors.