Sudanese cross the border from Sudan to Egypt on May 18, 2023. The United Nations refugee agency UNCHR said Wednesday that a new report shows 2.9 million displaced people worldwide will need resettlement in 2025 including 242,000 from South Sudan. File Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA-EFE
June 5 (UPI) — The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said Wednesday that 2.9 million refugees globally will need to be resettled in 2025.
The findings, published in the Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2025 report, represented a 20% increase from 2024 numbers driven by “the prolongation of mass displacement situations, the emergence of new conflicts and the impacts of climate change,” the UNHCR said.
“Resettlement is a life-saving intervention for at-risk refugees and a meaningful response to increased and unresolved situations of forced displacement,” UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Ruvendrini Menikdiwela said in a statement.
She added that it’s a core part of the route-based approach needed to respond to the magnitude and complexity of displacement.
The new resettlement needs report came on the heels of President Joe Biden‘s new restrictions on asylum for migrant refugees at the southern border of the United States.
A new Biden executive order announced Tuesday restricts asylum eligibility to no more than 2,500 migrants per day unlawfully crossing the border.
The UNHCR said in a statement released late Tuesday that it was “profoundly concerned” about the White House decision.
“The new measures will deny access to asylum for many individuals who are in need of international protection, and who may now find themselves without a viable option for seeking safety and even at risk of refoulement,” it said.
Refoulement is the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.
The White House said in a statement that the new restriction “will make it easier for immigration officers to remove those without a lawful basis to remain and reduce the burden on our border patrol agents.”
UNCHR said the Wednesday resettlement report shows that Syrians have the highest resettlement needs for the ninth consecutive year at 933,000, followed by refugees from Afghanistan with 558,000, South Sudan at 242,000, Rohingya from Myanmar with 226,000, Sudan with 172,000 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 158,000.
Resettlement involves relocation of refugees to nations that agree to admit them and grant permanent settlement.
In 2023 just 96,311 refugees were resettled worldwide by these countries, less than 5% of people needing to be resettled.
UNCHR said the United States, Canada, Germany and Australia received the largest numbers of UNCHR-affiliated resettlements that year.
The agency is urging countries to redouble resettlement efforts.