UNHCR 93d Standing Committee - EU Statement - Agenda item 2a
European Union
UNHCR 93rd Standing Committee
16-18 June 2026
Agenda item 2a) Note on international protection
Statement by the European Union and its Member States
Thank you, Chair.
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
We thank UNHCR for this year's note on international protection. As the world faces increasing displacement challenges, regional escalation and long-lasting protracted crises, we appreciate the new High Commissioner’s leadership and the UNHCR staff for advancing protection, inclusive and durable solutions for the millions of forcibly displaced persons worldwide. We stand ready to keep supporting governments who are taking the lead in articulating, adopting, and implementing policy approaches to strengthen their protection space and remain committed to supporting UNHCR and partners. Right to seek asylum and full respect for the principle of non-refoulement must remain guaranteed.
We remain stable, reliable and strategic partners to UNHCR. We agree that protection, durable solutions, and responding to emergencies should remain at the heart of UNHCR. Protection is foundational to its humanitarian core mandate and crucial for sustaining human life and dignity. Protection responses must remain firmly grounded in international refugee, human rights and humanitarian law.
We also underline the importance of addressing the specific protection needs of women and girls, children, survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence, and other persons in vulnerable situations, with particular attention to age, diversity and gender.
The EU and its Member States continue to provide access to international protection for people fleeing war, conflict and persecution, in accordance with the obligations under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. In the last decade, around four million asylum seekers received protection status in the EU, including around 375,000 in 2025 alone. In addition, we provide temporary protection to over four million people who have fled Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine - the largest displacement crisis in Europe since the Second World War. We also continue offering safe and legal pathways to protection. Since 2015, EU-supported resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes have helped more than 195,000 refugees to find protection in the EU. The first-ever Union Plan on resettlement and humanitarian admission for 2026-2027 is now being rolled out.
Last week marked a historic milestone of our major reform with the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum entering into force. As a first step in delivering a sustainable and comprehensive framework the Pact balances solidarity and responsibility between EU Member States and provides safe and predictable procedures, more efficient processing of applications for international protection , and stronger safeguards for persons in most vulnerable situations.
We remain concerned by dangerous journeys, loss of life, human trafficking and the criminal activities of various actors that exploit and instrumentalise persons in vulnerable situations and endanger their lives. We encourage and support ongoing UNHCR-IOM efforts to address mixed movements of refugees and migrants through a whole of route, rights-based and comprehensive approach. We also call on partner countries to join us in these efforts by addressing its root causes, strengthening protection along routes, and countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Effective migration management and access to safe and regular pathways are key to preserving fair, efficient and sustainable asylum systems for persons in need of international protection. We support the swift return of those who have been found, in accordance with due process of law, to have no right to remain in the European Union, following an individual assessment, procedural safeguards and in full respect of the principle of non-refoulement and human dignity, and call on partner countries to strengthen cooperation on readmission and sustainable reintegration.
Together with its Member States, the EU is the largest donor to UNHCR and the largest supporter of its responses to major refugee crises. Given the increasingly challenging context in which UNHCR operates, coupled with significant unpredictability in funding, affecting both those in need of international protection as well as host countries and communities, it is imperative that we work together and that we work differently. The humanitarian–development–peace nexus has never been more important to deliver more sustainable and effective responses.
We continue to uphold the obligation to protect civilians in humanitarian crises. The EU continues to fund the protection sector and to advocate for it. In 2025, about 15% of the EU annual humanitarian budget was allocated to fund protection interventions. Not only do we need to ensure that targeted protection actions are kept, ensuring the protection of individuals and communities, but also that protection is mainstreamed in all actions providing safe, dignified and inclusive programming, and upholding quality standards.
We believe that the current geopolitical situation gives us no choice but to strengthen collective action, harmonise and innovate to adapt to challenges. The UN80 and the Humanitarian Reset reforms provide an opportunity for more effective, efficient and strategic cooperation between all relevant actors resulting in better outcomes for those in need.
Thank you.