UNHCR has launched a $10 billion appeal for 2025 to meet critical needs & implement sustainable solutions for millions of refugees, displaced persons & stateless people worldwide.

• It highlights UNHCR’s plans for 2025 & funding it needs to protect, assist & empower refugees, & to help them find solutions to their situations.

Global Refugee Crisis

• A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee conflict/persecution & has crossed an international border to seek safety.
  • 117.3 million People worldwide are forcibly displaced & 40% are children (UNHCR's Global Trends Report 2023). 
• Reasons: Conflict & violence (e.g. Syria), persecution (e.g. Myanmar), climate change impact etc. 

Challenges

• Refugees: Lacks basic necessities like food, shelter etc.; discrimination & exclusion from mainstream society; vulnerable to trafficking etc.
• Host Countries: Sudden increase in population; strain on local resources like healthcare; unemployment & social tensions, etc. 

Initiatives Undertaken

• Global Compact on Refugees (2018): Provides framework to help refugees & their host countries etc.
• Global Refugee Forum: Held every 4 years to discuss & find solutions for challenges faced by refugees & their host communities.
• United Nations Relief & Works Agency:  Established in 1949 to provide assistance & protection to Palestine refugees.