The United Nations Refugee agency says a record 123 million people were forcibly displaced in 2024. UNHCR's representative in Germany, Katharina Thote, spoke to DW about the reasons for these high numbers.
00:00And to talk about this more, I'm joined here in the studio by Katalina Torte, the UN Refugee Agency's representative here in Germany.
00:08A very warm welcome to you. Thank you for your time.
00:10Can I start by asking you, Katalina, about what is driving these numbers?
00:15Yes, you've said it, Anja. There are a lot of conflicts worldwide, and some of the main ones are the ones you hear about on the news every day.
00:23Syria, Afghanistan, but we are really worried also about the situation in Sudan, which is currently now the biggest displacement crisis worldwide, 14 million people who've had to flee their home.
00:35Talk to me about how people, and children of course, because we were talking about the numbers of children who are affected by this, how are they affected by having to flee their homes, by having to leave their home countries?
00:47Yes, the proportion of children forced to flee is much higher among forcibly displaced people than among the general world population.
00:56So this is really traumatizing for children having to leave their home, many lose family members while they're fleeing.
01:03And then when they arrive in the countries where they're being protected, often they don't even have the basic necessities along with their families.
01:12But it's really important that we're able to allow children to go to school, to keep schools open, to give them a way to rebuild their lives.
01:21But they have a lot of trauma that they're facing and are really in a terrible situation.
01:27The number of people forced to flee has doubled in the last decade, we were hearing.
01:33Is there anything that can be done, let alone to stop this, is there anything that can be done to slow this down?
01:40The main solution, of course, is to bring peace to these conflicts, to make sure that the situation is safe again for people to go back to their home countries, back to their villages of origin, which unfortunately is not the case so far.
01:56We have seen a slowing down of the trends since last year, also because a lot of people have started to return to some countries.
02:07But very often that's actually happening in very difficult circumstances to places that are not necessarily safe yet or rebuilt.
02:16And also in some places it's even happening under duress.
02:20So people are being forced to return home, like, for example, to Afghanistan, which is very concerning.
02:25You're the UNHCR's representative here in Germany.
02:28I just wanted to ask you, because we're seeing a different picture here.
02:30The number of asylum seekers has declined by more than 30 percent.
02:35That was last year. Were you surprised by that?
02:38No, we've seen the numbers already reducing.
02:42And it's, of course, very important to remember that the vast majority of people who are forcibly displaced remain in their regions of origin.
02:50So 73 percent are living in low and middle income countries.
02:56More than two thirds remain actually in the immediate neighboring country to where the crisis is happening.
03:01So only a fraction of people are actually arriving in Europe and in Germany.
03:05If we can talk about the work that the UNHCR does, obviously it needs money in order to support these people.
03:12Now, it is, I hear, facing the largest funding crisis in its 75-year history.
03:18Can you talk to us about how that is impacting your work and what you can do?
03:22Yes, you've said it before.
03:24The number of displaced people has doubled in the last 10 years.
03:27But we actually only have the same level of funding available now that we had 10 years ago.
03:32So we as UNHCR and also many other humanitarian organizations have had to cut back our programs by about a third.
03:38And that just means that those 123 million people are not getting even the most basic humanitarian assistance that they need to receive.
03:47And we're not able to provide that.
03:48What about the prospects for future funding?
03:50I mean, is there the possibility or do you see the possibility of getting more funding?
03:55We really do hope that some of the funding will be restored from some of the countries that have announced the cutbacks.
04:02We also hope that private donations will at least help us cover some of that.
04:09But it's clear that it's such a big gap is impossible to completely cover.
04:14And the people who are bearing the brunt of that are the refugees and displaced people.
04:18And the needs are obviously growing.
04:20There is one positive aspect of your report.
04:25The number of displaced people who were able to return to their home countries did rise slightly.
04:32Is that cause for hope?
04:35Is this a trend that we're seeing?
04:37Yeah, 9.8 million people did return home.
04:40You've mentioned it.
04:41That's more than in the past few decades, actually.
04:45But we are still worried because many of them are returning under conditions that are far less from ideal.
04:52And it's not sure that they will be able to stay there.
04:54So if they're, for example, someone who was a refugee in Sudan is now returning to South Sudan,
05:00where the situation is also very unstable and there are actually people being newly displaced.
05:05So is that a situation that is going to, is that a cause for hope?
05:10I don't know.
05:10So we really need to make sure that peace is being pursued in these situations so that people can return home safely and rebuild their lives there.
05:21Katharina Torte, UNHCR's representative here in Germany.
