UNHCR 96th Standing Committee - EU Statement - Agenda Item 5 b

European Union

UNHCR 96th Standing Committee 

16-18 June 2026

Agenda Item 5 b): Global Report 2025

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. 

1. In this decisive moment for UNHCR, amidst continued budgetary shortfalls, the on-going budget review, the independent management review, and changes in leadership, the European Union and its Member States remain stable, reliable and strategic partners to UNHCR. Last year, we collectively allocated around USD 1.2 billion to UNHCR. Given the increasingly challenging context in which UNHCR operates, with protracted displacement crisis being at its record peak and unpredictability around funding, we need to work together, and we need to work differently. In these times of change and upheaval, we urge UNHCR to seize these moments of renewal and self-reflection to serve those in need even more effectively. To this end, we call on UNHCR to increase coordination, cooperation or complementarity, harness shared services, and reduce duplication, while preserving protection capacity, proximity to affected populations and the values and principles of its unique mandate. While we understand the need to act and recognise that far-reaching decisions must be made within a very short timeframe, we encourage the organisation to adopt a considered and mandate-driven approach that reinforces the intended long-term outcomes and secures sustainable progress towards these objectives. We stand with the UNHCR personnel who are facing changes, recognising their invaluable efforts to ensure that international protection and durable solutions are provided to those in need, and we commend those who continue to risk their lives to deliver this assistance. 

    

2. We welcome the High Commissioner’s ambitious goal to reduce by 50 percent by 2035 the number of refugees in need of international protection who depend on humanitarian assistance. We look forward to receiving further details on how the High Commissioner plans to achieve it and how it will be reflected in the organisation’s ongoing restructuring, as well as on how we may engage in support. This is important for the dignity of affected persons, and UNHCR’s financial sustainability. This ambitious goal cannot be achieved by UNHCR alone and therefore strong and reliable partnerships are essential, including in addressing root causes of displacement. Refugee's self-reliance is a core priority for the EU and its Member States, as it is essential to preserving dignity, expanding opportunities, and enabling meaningful participation in host communities. This requires an enabling environment, including access to legal documentation, freedom of movement, the right to work, and inclusion in nationally led services such as education, health, social protection and financial services. These efforts should remain rights-based and take into account age, diversity, inclusion and gender, including the barriers faced by women and girls. Where such conditions are limited, refugees risk remaining dependent on parallel support structures and are unable to fully contribute to local economies and community development—as consumers, labourers, taxpayers, and even as investors. We therefore encourage UNHCR to further prioritise inclusion and self-reliance through strengthened engagement with host governments, supported by development actors, international financial institutions and the private sector. Supporting host countries to strengthen public services, infrastructure and economic opportunities will be key to enabling this transition. Facilitating ways towards economic and social inclusion for refugees and their host communities, absent peace, is the only way to reach the 50 by 35 goal. Durable solutions should be advanced through a balanced approach including resettlement, complementary pathways in accordance with national legislation and policies, and voluntary return in safety and dignity. 

    

3. The EU and its Member States call on UNHCR to safeguard and pursue the Centrality of Protection in all its interventions ensuring that protection mainstreaming is systematically applied and that dedicated expertise remains available. We call on UNHCR to uphold and strengthen its protection mandate and invite UNHCR to ensure safe, inclusive and targeted protection programming and uphold quality standards, as well as to maintain dedicated protection expertise including on special protection from sexual and gender-based violence. We also call on UNHCR to prioritise its core mandate on Refugee Status Determination in countries and territories not party to the 1951 Convention. We welcome UNHCR and IOM’s initiative to provide coordinated protection and targeted assistance under a Route Based approach strengthening interoperability and preventing exacerbation of vulnerabilities along mixed migration routes, including for women, children, survivors of trafficking and persons at risk of exploitation and abuse. We look forward to regular joint updates on progress in this regard. 

    

4. The EU and its Member States remain committed to effective multilateralism and to the rules-based international order, with the UN at its core.  UNHCR’s engagement in the Humanitarian Reset is a step in the right direction, and we encourage UNHCR to take a leading role in driving the Humanitarian Reset forward. We call for greater integration between cluster and refugee coordination models (as included in the Reset roadmap – point 11). We also recall the necessity of aligning the Reset with the broader UN80 initiative,  noting the potential of a One-UN approach in supporting sustainable response and durable solutions. In line with this, we expect UNHCR to align its ongoing internal review with these efforts as well. Now is the time to start operationalising the Reset principle of “as local as possible, as international as necessary” and establish more equitable partnerships with local and national actors. We also encourage UNHCR to adopt Area-Based Approaches as they can enhance impact and effectiveness by integrating responses in support of resilience and recovery at an area level, supported by coordination that enables collective outcomes rather than fragmented, isolated and/or duplicative interventions. Accountability to affected populations, principled humanitarian action and meaningful participation of displaced persons and host communities should remain central to these reforms.

Thank you.