On 3 October 2023, Pakistan’s national Apex Committee endorsed a plan to repatriate over a million foreigners without valid documents, largely Afghans. Announcing the plan, Pakistan’s Minister of Interior said that an ultimatum has been issued to illegal foreigners residing in Pakistan, requiring them to leave the country by 1 November.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has caused massive civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance. Since February 2022, millions of refugees from Ukraine have crossed borders into neighbouring countries, and millions more have been forced to flee within the country. They are in need of protection and support. In light of the emergency and the scale of humanitarian needs, an inter-agency regional refugee response is being carried out, in support of the efforts of refugee-hosting countries. The Regional Refugee Response Plan brings together national authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, as well as civil society organisations and focuses on supporting host country governments to ensure the inclusion of refugees, with full access to their rights, in line with international standards. It also prioritizes the provision of critical protection services and humanitarian assistance.
Since the start of the conflict in Sudan in mid-April, large numbers of civilians have been forced to flee, including people who were already internally displaced and refugees from other countries who had sought safety in Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled into neighbouring countries or returned home in adverse circumstances – notably to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Others self-relocated within Sudan.
Million of Syrians, many of them displaced for over a decade, have sought refuge in Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. The protracted nature of the conflict, which has resulted in one of the world's largest refugee crises, has strained public infrastructure and services in host countries.
Decades of clashes between armed groups, widespread violations of human rights, and devastating incidents of gender-based violence have displaced more than 6.1 million people within the DRC
Dans le cadre de l'opération d'enregistrement des demandeurs d'asile à N'Djamena, une collaboration novatrice entre le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR), la Commission Nationale de l'Accueil et de la Réinsertion des Réfugiés (CNARR) et l'Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANATS) a été mise en place. Cette initiative, première du genre au Tchad, vise à détecter et à prévenir les cas de fraude, notamment en identifiant les individus détenant des Numéros Nationaux d'Identification (NNI) ou une double nationalité, ainsi que les citoyens tchadiens cherchant à se faire enregistrer en tant que réfugiés.
UNHCR is participating in the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), exploring the increasingly evident nexus between climate change, biodiversity loss, and forced displacement. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which meets every two years to address the global climate crisis. In 2024, for the first time in history, Colombia hosted the biannual Conference on Biodiversity, marking its 16th edition. COP16 took place in Cali, Valle del Cauca, from October 21 to November 1, 2024. Each of these conferences aimed to take decisive actions for the protection of biological diversity. In this document, UNHCR presents its actions in Colombia to ensure the rights of people displaced by environmental factors.
UNHCR’s newly released Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030 builds on the Strategic Framework for Climate Action to operationalize its commitment to reduce and manage the effects of climate change on forcibly displaced and stateless people. In collaboration with Country Offices and the Regional Bureaus, three new technical output indicators (and guidance notes) have been developed for sustainable water services and shelter. The strategic plan will focus its efforts in the first year on 22 priority countries (as in the map below) where many people UNHCR cares for are living, combined with projections of climate change severely impacting their lives, resilience and self-reliance.
The war in Ukraine has been the fastest growing and largest displacement crisis in Europe since World War II and has precipitated a regional refugee response of commensurate scale. In the nearly two years since the Russian Federation’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the flow of refugees into neighbouring countries, and beyond, has been met by a remarkable mobilization of assistance – by national and municipal authorities, civil society actors, local volunteers, and refugees themselves, all contributing to ensure protection and meet the essential needs of those fleeing violence. As the refugee response enters its third year in 2024, it continues to address significant needs in host countries, demonstrating an evolving and prolonged situation. Notably, this iteration of the plan reflects the overall ownership of the response and greater investment by host governments in the socio-economic inclusion of refugees.
