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	2.4 billion workers exposed to excessive heat. Too hot to work, can't afford to stop by IIED, ILO, GCSPF, agencies International Institute for Environment and Development, agencies   July 2026   Extreme heat is acting as a “poverty multiplier” for hundreds of millions of workers in India’s informal sector, researchers from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) report.   The IIED research estimated that each year, 21.1 working days were lost in India due to extreme heat, an unaffordable loss for many of the 550 million workers in the informal sector.   Ritu Bharadwaj, climate finance director at the IIED, said the research showed how extreme heat was deepening poverty and worsening existing structural inequalities in India, which is aiming to be a developed nation in the next two decades.   “Heat is quietly pushing these families deeper into poverty. As the heat rises, their efficiency goes down, so they earn less. With lower income their food intake falls. And because they cannot afford to stop, they keep working through it, doing lasting damage to their health. They are paying for a crisis they did nothing to cause, with their health and with their savings.”   Human-caused climate breakdown is making every heatwave in the world more intense and more likely to happen. India, a country where nine out of 10 work in the informal economy, could become one of the first places where heatwaves break the human survivability limit, a World Bank report said.   The world's over 2 billion informal workers include some of the most socially and economically marginalised people, who lack employment security, obliging them to work through illness and endure unsafe working conditions.   Access to drinking water, shade, rest areas, sanitation and medical support at the worksite was poor, the report revealed. Many workers then returned to homes that provided “no relief from heat”.   With its frequency, intensity and duration increasing due to climate change, extreme heat has become one of the world’s most widespread occupational hazards. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 2.41 billion workers— 71% of the global workforce — are exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work, a share that has risen steadily since 2000.   Heat stress is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, and studies covering 2000–2019 attribute around 489,000 deaths a year to heat, 45% of them in Asia (WHO, 2024). Behind these mortality figures sits a much larger burden of illness, injury and lost earning capacity that rarely appears in any official assessment.   India sits at the higher end of this crisis. The India Meteorological Department (IMD recorded 2024 as the country’s warmest year since records began in 1901, with 37 cities crossing 45°C between March and June . The ILO projects that heat stress will reduce India’s working hours by 5.8% in 2030, a productivity loss equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs (ILO, 2019). These losses fall overwhelmingly on informal workers.   Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for 2023–2024 show that 58.4% of Indian workers are self-employed and a further 19.8% are casual labourers. It is this informal workforce that labours in the occupations where the body is the main productive asset, such as construction, brick making, road building, rickshaw pulling, loading and small-scale manufacturing.   For informal workers, heat exposure translates directly into lost earnings, illness and reduced productivity. A daily wage labourer who misses work because of heat-related illness, a brick moulder whose output falls during the hottest months or a garment worker who slows down in an overheated factory all experience immediate income losses.   And it is largely these workers and their households who bear these losses, absorbing them through borrowing, reduced consumption or delayed healthcare, with little compensation or protection.   Heat exposure is not confined to outdoor work. Workers in garment units, glass factories and small workshops often labour for long hours in poorly ventilated, heat-trapping spaces where temperatures can be as severe as those outdoors.   And exposure does not end when their shift finishes. Many workers return to overcrowded homes with tin roofs that retain heat late into the night, leaving little opportunity for recovery before the next working day. Understanding heat exposure therefore requires looking beyond the workplace to the wider conditions in which workers live.   The policy response so far has not matched the nature of the problem. Insurance-based income protection schemes —including products that trigger payments when temperatures exceed a threshold — represent an important innovation. But payouts are often too small relative to earnings lost and are typically not received until after the heat event has passed. More fundamentally, such schemes compensate a fraction of the losses and do not address the conditions that force people to continue working through dangerous heat or the longer-term impacts on health and productivity.   The situation in India is no different from many other countries and regions. Across South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, developing and low-income countries with large informal workforces face the same combination of rising heat, physically demanding work and weak social protection.   Evidence on what works in India can directly provide learnings for them. Many developed countries have also started to face the heat. Europe recorded an estimated 61,672 heat-related excess deaths in the summer of 2022, and occupational heat exposure is rising faster in Europe and Central Asia than any other region (WHO, 2024; ILO, 2024).   As outdoor and indoor work everywhere gets hotter, the question we are addressing through this report is how to protect workers’ health and incomes in ways that can allow them to stop working when conditions become dangerous.   The study ‘Too hot to work, too poor to rest’ examines the health and economic impacts of heat stress on informal workers in four South Asian cities: Ajmer, Delhi and Agra in India, and Dhaka in Bangladesh. It surveyed over 700 workers across outdoor settings such as construction, road work, brick kilns and rickshaw pulling, and indoor settings such as garment, glass and small-scale manufacturing. The survey was supplemented by time motion studies, health risk scoring validated by local doctors, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and family case studies.   The findings draw attention to three issues that much of the existing research overlooks:   Indoor workers are as vulnerable as those working outdoors, even though far fewer studies examine their conditions. Heat exposure does not end at the worksite: poor housing, sanitation, water and food mean that a worker who spends eight or nine hours labouring in the heat returns home to conditions that provide no respite, and The costs are more than economic loss and damage: heat stress carries significant non-economic and psychological harm that rarely appears in assessments.   The research shows how heat stress creates a hidden cycle of loss that ranges from workers' daily earnings to their long-term health, and from the household to the wider economy. The papers also set out recommendations for protecting workers and their incomes, including how compensation and insurance-based approaches compare.   http://www.iied.org/too-hot-work-too-poor-rest http://www.iied.org/extreme-heat-costing-indian-workers-billions-lost-wages http://www.peoplescourageinternational.org/pdfs/HotCitiesReport.pdf http://www.wiego.org/project/climate-change-urban-informal-economy http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/29/extreme-heat-deaths-india-climate-crisis-environment http://www.dw.com/en/extreme-heat-asia-workers-health-wages-climate-change-india-philippines-graphics/a-78220714 http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/06/south-asian-cities-faced-relentless-record-breaking-heatwaves-last-year/ http://www.citiesalliance.org/resources/publications/publications/climate-finance-urban-poor-review-global-climate-funds http://sdinet.org/   Sep. 2024   Governments must do more to utilize universal social protection to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change. (ILO)   The World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition finds that in the 20 countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, 91.3 per cent of people (364 million) lack any form of social protection.   Looking more broadly, in the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries, 75 per cent of the population (2.1 billion people) lack any social protection coverage.   Globally, most children (76.1 per cent) still have no effective social protection coverage. There is also a substantial gender gap, with women’s effective coverage lagging behind men’s coverage.   These gaps are especially significant, given the potential role of social protection in softening the impact of climate change, helping people and societies adapt to a new climate-volatile reality, and facilitating a just transition to a sustainable future.   "Climate change does not recognize borders, and we cannot build a wall to keep the crisis out. The climate crisis affects us all and represents the single, gravest, threat to social justice today,” said Gilbert Houngbo, ILO Director-General.   “Many of the countries experiencing the most brutal consequences of this crisis are particularly ill-equipped to handle its environmental and livelihood consequences. We must recognize that what happens to impacted communities will affect us all".   Despite its role as a catalyst and an enabler of positive climate action, governments are failing to make the most of social protection’s potential, largely because of persistent coverage gaps and significant underinvestment.   On average, countries spend 12.9 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on social protection (excluding health). However, while high-income countries spend an average of 16.2 per cent, low-income countries allocate only 0.8 per cent of their GDP to social protection.   Low-income countries – which include states most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – need an additional US$308.5 billion per year (52.3 per cent of their GDP) to guarantee at least basic social protection, and international support will be needed to reach this goal.   The report calls for decisive and integrated policy action to close protection gaps, arguing that, “it is time to up the ante” and invest significantly in social protection.   The report offers important recommendations to help guide policy and ensure effective and sustainable outcomes, including:   Preparing for both ‘routine’ life cycle risks, as well as climate-related shocks by having social protection systems in place ex-ante by ensuring everyone enjoys adequate social protection. Using social protection to support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and secure public acceptance of those measures. Prioritizing investment in social protection, including external support for countries with limited fiscal space.   http://www.ilo.org/publications/flagship-reports/world-social-protection-report-2024-26-universal-social-protection-climate   The critical role of social protection in strengthening resilience to climate change - Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors   This policy brief argues for a strategic use of climate funding, and in particular for its use in strengthening rights-based social protection systems.   Social protection is an important mechanism in managing climate-change related risks and their social and economic consequences as a short-term response to extreme weather events, but also supports people in adapting to climate change in the long-term.   1. Introduction   The right to social security is recognized in numerous human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A fundamental human right, social security is a potent tool to combat discrimination and an essential instrument for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion. It aims to provide income security and support at every stage of life for everyone, with particular attention to the most marginalized.   Social protection is interpreted as broader than social security and has many forms. It incorporates non-statutory or informal measures for providing social security, but encompasses traditional social security measures such as benefits, social assistance and social insurance. It includes regular systematised benefits of cash and in-kind transfers, public works programmes, social welfare services, health schemes, social insurance schemes, training and employment schemes.   Social protection has a critical role in helping individuals and communities to manage risks. Social protection systems allow people to reduce and cope with social and economic risks over their life span, such as illness, income loss due to disability, old age, death and injury.   They also provide support in the face of collective impacts and risks, including pandemics, economic downturns and the adverse effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events (storms, floods), slow onset events (sea level rise, desertification, droughts) and other climate change-related losses and damages.   Over the past two decades, climate change has altered and significantly exacerbated both individual and collective risks and impacts. Climate change effects are felt worldwide, but it is the most vulnerable population groups in low-income countries who are disproportionally exposed to climate-change related risks. Particularly at risk are small scale famers and fishing communities, indigenous peoples and poor people generally, both urban and rural.   Those most affected not only live in high risk-prone areas but work under precarious social and economic conditions. Climate change has direct impacts on their livelihoods, especially agriculture and fishing. Their contributions to the causes of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions are negligible, but they are the most exposed to its most damaging impacts. At the same time, they have fewer resources to cope and adapt to climate change.   Strengthening social protection systems, especially in those countries most affected by climate risk, is a contribution to climate justice. As we strive toward climate justice for all people in all countries, investment in social protection system building with climate finance mechanisms should form part of nationally determined action to mitigate climate change effects.   This policy brief argues for a strategic use of climate funding, and in particular for its use in strengthening rights-based social protection systems. Social protection is an important mechanism in managing climate-change related risks and their social and economic consequences as a short-term response to extreme weather events, but also supports people in adapting to climate change in the long-term.   The critical role of social protection in strengthening resilience to climate change has been recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which recommends that climate adaptation should be integrated into social protection programmes (IPCC 2022).   2. Why social protection in a climate change context?   Social protection has an important role in strengthening the resilience to climate change in various ways:   Anticipation: Social protection helps people to better anticipate and mitigate the consequences of climate change by reducing their exposure and vulnerability. Regular cash benefits, cash for work or cash-plus programmes, for example, enable people to diversify livelihood strategies (e.g. by combining agricultural and non-agricultural elements), or to invest in preventive measures (e.g. improving irrigation, building dams).   Joining a social health insurance scheme or an unemployment protection scheme reduces vulnerability. In addition, rights-based, comprehensive and universal social protection can reduce climate vulnerability by addressing underlying issues of structural inequality that leave various groups, such as women and girls, persons with disability and older people, more exposed to the negative impacts of climate change.   Absorption: Social protection systems have a critical role in enabling individuals and communities to cope with and react to shocks. In the context of sudden onset disasters, such as floods or cyclones, quick and reliable payments of cash, in-kind transfers or insurance benefits play an important role in smoothing income and stabilizing livelihoods.   Social protection helps recipients maintain or restore their asset base, enabling them to recover more rapidly from crisis-situations than non-beneficiaries. Well-established social protection systems are able to respond to crises, for example, by temporarily expanding coverage to include all people hit by a shock or by increasing transfer values in order to enable people to withstand temporary emergencies (for example the Hunger Safety Net in Kenya).   If social protection systems are in place, strengthened and prepared to deal with an increasing number of collective shocks, there will be less need to set up ad hoc structures for emergency relief.   Adaptation: Social protection may help individuals, households and systems to strengthen their adaptive capacity to resist climate change in the long-term. It helps by supporting them to build up and invest in assets, diversify them, and improve their understanding of climate-related information for improved adaptation, for example by changing the planting patterns of their crops.   This is especially relevant when people are facing slow onset risks – that is, risks that evolve and become more severe over time, such as rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns, land degradation or saltwater intrusion.   Social protection mechanisms can be linked to climate-specific measures. For example, in Ethiopia, India and Mexico public works programmes provide income support for recipients while building ecological resilience through the rehabilitation or enhancement of the natural resource base, such as watershed-management, afforestation programmes or irrigation work.   In Brazil, the Bolsa Verde (Green Grant) programme encourages recipients to conserve the ecosystem through zero deforestation in exchange for cash and provides complementary training programmes for alternative land use and employment opportunities.   Transformation: People’s capacity to manage climate change risk is largely determined by structural factors. Inequality and discrimination related to socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity, disability, age and location, constrains access to resources, such as access to land, to markets, to basic services or even to climate-change related information.   In addition, crises also tend to exacerbate inequalities, widening already existing gaps. Integrated social protection systems that address and are sensitive to these inter-related structural inequalities are effective ways to integrate, redistribute, and reduce inequality of opportunities, helping to build up transformative capacities.   Strengthening access of women to productive resources, increasing their bargaining power at household and community level or providing age and gender-sensitive information and training on livelihoods adaptation strategies are good examples.   Social protection can facilitate “just transitions”, that is, it can help to reshape economies and the bargaining power of sectors within them, by supporting a better alignment of workers’ social rights and the shift to a green economy (ILO 2015). Social protection has a critical role in supporting workers who are rendered jobless or lose their livelihoods as a result of decisions to move to more environmentally friendly methods of production, by providing both unemployment benefits and opportunities for retraining. Making jobs greener also should mean making them more decent. This is of particular relevance to people in precarious, informal or atypical working relations, who may otherwise bear the highest costs of a climate-related transitions (ILO 2015).   3. The Importance of a systemic approach to social protection   The extent to which social protection programmes can contribute to strengthening climate resilience depends to a large degree on programme design and the operational capacity of public institutions and bureaucracies to deliver services and transfers in a predictable and regular manner. Integrated management information systems, an up to date and comprehensive beneficiary registry, and effective and efficient payment and distribution mechanisms are all key ingredients for the establishment of sustainable and flexible social protection measures.   Establishing systemic and rights-based approaches to social protection remains the most critical aspect of durable and effective social protection schemes. The establishment of a social protection system that comprises integrated programmes that deliver the social protection guarantees to cover life course risks is an important precondition for the integration of climate-related measures. At the same time, it is worth remembering that those social protection programmes already in place, which may not have been specifically designed to address climate risks, already significantly help to increase resilience and coping mechanisms for people struggling with climate change.   These beneficial effects will be even stronger if social protection systems are strengthened to be climate sensitive and if coverage is expanded to deal with newer risks and affected geographical areas (IPCC 2022).   Working towards a systemic and climate resilient approach to social protection system strengthening will mean working collaboratively with a range of actors, including state institutions at local, regional, and national level, social partners, civil society actors and development partners. In a climate related context, this requires special attention to cross-sectoral budgeting, planning, designing, and implementation.   4. The human right to social protection in the face of loss and damage   Social protection is a human right and can be an important mechanism to advance international climate justice and to facilitate a rights-based approach to loss and damage (Kaltenborn 2023). However, there is also a need to address climate change injustice, derived from an unfair global architecture, which exacerbates the negative impacts of climate change on certain groups.   Building social protection systems that can respond to the ever more frequent climate-related shocks and crises will not by itself resolve all underlying problems, but it can at least strengthen access of those most at risk to their social and economic rights and reduce dependency on a financially and institutionally overstretched humanitarian aid sector, particularly in protracted crises situations.   5. The importance of increased financing for social protection   Social protection schemes across the world face a serious financing gap. This gap is disproportionally large in those countries, which are experiencing the most negative social and economic consequences of climate-change.   While high and middle income countries across the world spend on average 12.9 per cent of their GDP on social protection (excluding health), lower-middle income countries spend around 2.5 per cent and low-income countries a mere 1.1 per cent (ILO 2021).   While all countries, and in particular low-income countries, need to increase their domestic financial resources allocated to social protection, international financing sources, including bilateral and multilateral funding mechanisms, will remain important in the short and medium term. Such financing can also derive from the Loss and Damage Fund.   Apart from financing the reconstruction of infrastructure and humanitarian assistance in relation to climate-related losses and damages, support can also go to strengthening social protection systems to react to climate-induced risks and impacts.   This can be considered part of a comprehensive and integrated approach to ensuring that actions to address climate-related losses and damages, including financing such actions, are consistent with a country’s overarching development goals and objectives, including their national actions to achieve the SDGs, to realise human rights for all and to ensure the right to development for all.   6. Call for Action: strengthening Social Protection Systems for Climate Justice   Recognize the Role of Social Protection in Addressing Climate Change   Build universal social protection systems: support countries’ efforts to invest in integrated social protection systems for all throughout the life course rather than setting up isolated programmes to respond to for climate risks. This is the best strategy to reduce vulnerability of the most affected people and countries and to address the social and economic consequences of climate-related loss and damage in the future.   Establish and improve rights-based social protection schemes: states have a right to the resources needed to respond to loss and damage, caused by climate change, for which they bear minimal responsibility.   Individuals affected should also have a right to support. For example, in the event of climate-related illness (due to heat, changes in disease profiles etc.), crop loss or the death of a family member, individuals should have the right to access health services and to receive financial support to sustain their livelihoods.   This is where a predictable social security system makes an important difference to programmes of humanitarian aid; such programmes may not be rights based, not enforceable by law and may have limited durability.   Link Social Protection and Climate Action:   Include social protection in climate action: governments should explicitly include social protection measures and the expansion of social protection systems in their national climate strategies.   Integrate climate action in social protection policies: stronger coordination between crisis prevention, social protection and humanitarian aid is necessary to maximise the effectiveness of existing mechanisms and to avoid creating costly parallel structures and institutions.   Ensure social protection systems can be more responsive to sudden onset risks and link social protection to measures that incentivize people to protect the eco-system.   Invest in and highlight Social Outcomes for Climate-Related Financial Mechanisms:   Reduce poverty and inequality: in addition to the negative impacts of climate change on coastlines, agricultural lands or highways, equal consideration should be given to the effect on social cohesion, specifically on poverty, vulnerability and equity in the assessment of loss and damage experienced by different sectors of the population. This is all the more important as the impact of climate change is already exacerbating existing inequalities.   Increase predictable financing for social protection: in order to build social protection systems that can provide support in a predictable and reliable manner, finance institutions should explicitly include opportunities to finance social protection in their risk mitigation and risk management portfolios.   This includes the Loss and Damage Fund and other existing climate-related finance mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund. There are other potential additional options to consider such as the allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs) and the introduction of financial transactions tax, etc. in international finance.   http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/05/policy-brief-social-protection-for-climate-justice-why-and-how/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5951-weathering-storm-poverty-climate-change-and-social-protection http://www.developmentpathways.co.uk/blog/social-protection-is-a-prerequisite-for-climate-justice/   * 29 July 2026   Protect Workers from Extreme Heat. (AFL-CIO American Unions)   Cities coast to coast are breaking all-time heat records this July, as the extreme heat continues. But while workers continue to face dangerous and potentially deadly working conditions, anti-worker leaders in Congress are quietly attempting to stop any heat safety protection laws from being passed, now or in the future.   H.R. 6213, the misnamed Heat Workforce Standards Act, would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from creating or enforcing any national heat safety law. This cannot stand.   Working in extreme heat, both inside and outside, makes workers vulnerable to heat-related illness and even death. It’s difficult to track as heat-related deaths and illnesses are not always recorded as such. As a result, this is a serious problem that is undercounted. In 2024, OSHA proposed the nation’s first heat safety standard. The Trump administration has yet to implement these much-needed protections.   Many heat safety measures are common sense, widely accepted and necessary to save lives. Workers are facing increasingly hot temperatures across the country, year after year. And all workers are at serious risk of harm from the heat.   http://aflcio.org/2026/7/29/take-action-heat-safety-work http://www.eenews.net/articles/panel-advances-bill-to-kill-worker-heat-protections/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/24072026/osha-worker-heat-protections-still-not-final/ http://www.americanprogress.org/article/extreme-heat-is-more-dangerous-for-workers-every-year/ Visit the related web page
	117.8 million people now violently displaced around the world by UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), NRC, IDMC   July 2026   UNHCR: 75 years on, the Refugee Convention remains a lifeline for millions, by Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection and Solutions:   "Seventy-five years after the Refugee Convention was opened for signature on 28 July 1951, it remains the foundation of the international refugee protection system and one of the most consequential international legal instruments ever adopted.   Born in the aftermath of the Second World War, it codified a simple but powerful principle: people forced to flee persecution, conflict or violence must be able to find safety and protection.   No society is immune to war, persecution or sudden upheaval. The Convention was built on that universal truth: that people forced to flee must be protected.   Over the past seven and a half decades, it has been a lifeline for people fleeing conflicts and persecution, from post-war Europe and wars of national liberation across Africa, to the Indochina wars and military dictatorships in Latin America, to more recent crises in Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and Sudan.   A total of 149 States are parties to the Convention, its 1967 Protocol, or both, making it one of the most widely supported international legal frameworks. Together, the Convention and its Protocol define who is a refugee, set out refugees’ rights, and establish the standards of treatment States have agreed to uphold.   The core principle of non-refoulement – prohibiting the return of people to a place where they would face persecution, torture or other serious harm – is recognized under customary international law, which applies to all countries, whether or not they have signed the Convention.   Importantly, the Convention has proven to be a living instrument, retaining its relevance in responding to contemporary challenges. Through evolving State practice, court decisions and guidance from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, it has supported protection responses to issues such as gender-based persecution, forced recruitment and risks that may be compounded by climate impacts where these intersect with conflict, persecution or other serious harm.   In a world experiencing record levels of crisis and instability – with more than 130 armed conflicts recorded worldwide in 2025, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross – some 41.6 million refugees remained uprooted. Even amid increasingly polarized debate, public support for asylum remains strong, with around two-thirds of people surveyed this year by Ipsos across 29 countries supporting the right of those fleeing war or persecution to seek refuge.   The global asylum system, however, is under strain. Nearly 70 per cent of refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries, many of which face their own economic and development challenges. Seven in ten refugees live in exile for five years or more.   Some argue that the Convention is no longer suited to today’s globalized world of mixed movements and overstretched asylum systems. We disagree. The Convention remains the framework that allows States to distinguish those who need international protection from those who do not, while ensuring that no one is returned to persecution, torture or other serious harm.   Fair and efficient procedures to determine refugee status protect refugees, reassure host communities and preserve confidence in asylum. UNHCR is ready to redouble its work with States and partners to ease capacity constraints and ensure decisions are accurate and as swift as possible. Those who do not need refugee protection should not be granted asylum and can be returned, safely and in dignity. That, too, is part of a credible asylum system.   At the same time, border management must remain anchored in protection. We are concerned by practices that restrict access to asylum, including pushbacks, denial of access to territory and forced returns. The Convention provides a framework for States to manage borders while protecting people with a well-defined need for international protection.   These pressures are compounded by severe funding shortfalls. With UNHCR funded at only 31 per cent as of the end of June, essential services for people forced to flee – including extremely vulnerable groups – are being constrained.   Marking the 75th anniversary of the Convention, UNHCR is calling for renewed commitment to the institution of asylum, stronger international cooperation and greater support for refugees and the communities that host them.   Through a series of dialogues in 2026 – taking place at local, regional and global levels, and involving governments, civil society, refugees, the private sector and other stakeholders – we are working to identify practical ways to strengthen protection and advance solutions.   Seventy-five years on, the Convention is a test of our collective resolve today to protect those forced to flee and to keep asylum available for those who need it.   http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-75-years-refugee-convention-remains-lifeline-millions http://www.unhcr.org/news-and-stories http://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/respond-emergencies http://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/emergencies http://www.ifrc.org/article/far-global-headlines-humanity-move-djibouti http://www.ifrc.org/our-work/disasters-climate-and-crises/migration-and-displacement http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/migration-systems-and-policies-must-uphold-rights-children-unicef   July 2026   As the Refugee Convention approaches its 75th Anniversary, Global Civil Society Coalition calls for strengthened implementation and narratives rooted in Hope and Solidarity, not Fear and Division:   July 28th 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the landmark international treaty that outlines the legal obligation to protect people from being returned to persecution and the rights of those who seek asylum. The Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the principles underpinning them, have saved millions of lives and aided refugee-hosting communities and States around the world.   The 75th anniversary is not just a commemoration. It is an opportunity to strengthen responsibility and call for renewed action at a time when forced displacement is at historic levels, asylum and resettlement systems face mounting strain, and massive funding cuts are undermining refugee protection around the world. Reaffirming the Convention's principles must translate into adherence to its principles, improved implementation, strengthened national systems, and inclusive approaches that center refugee leadership.   As the world marks this milestone, the global civil society coalition of refugee-led, faith-based, humanitarian, legal aid, academic, and human rights organisations calls on UN Member States, UN agencies, donors, humanitarian actors, and others to advance concrete actions to strengthen adherence to, and implementation of, the Refugee Convention and uphold its principles. In all discussions about refugees and decisions affecting their rights, refugees and refugee-led organisations must be meaningfully included.   We must collectively re-affirm that protecting refugees is a moral and legal imperative and serves the interest of societies themselves. We call for honest, fact-based and principles-based discussions and narratives, rooted in shared values, rights, human dignity and hope rather than fear and division. Disparagements and evasions of international treaties and law subvert the rule of law globally.   Dehumanising, fear-mongering narratives spread division and undermine refugee protection everywhere. Proactively countering misinformation and sharing more accurate, hopeful stories about refugee protection are essential to winning and sustaining public support.   In these efforts, refugees and refugee-led organizations must be recognised as experts, advocates, leaders, and trusted messengers. We must also amplify the voices of local communities, faith leaders, and others who champion refugee protection and human dignity.   Concrete actions to strengthen adherence to the Refugee Convention include steps to:   Uphold and champion the Convention and its prohibition on refoulement in policies, practices, and public statements. The principle of non-refoulement is a cornerstone of the Refugee Convention. The legal prohibition against return to persecution applies to all States, not only those close to displacement crises which host the vast majority of the world’s refugees.   We are deeply concerned about the proliferation of States’ third country arrangements and other externalisation policies that have caused or risk refoulement. In such arrangements, as well as in other border and migration policies, States must respect rights and the principle of non-refoulement.   All measures that result in return to danger or deny people a genuine opportunity to seek asylum must be ended. Access to territory and fair and effective asylum procedures are essential to upholding non-refoulement in practice...   As 117 refugee-led organisations from more than 41 countries wrote last year in an Open Letter to UN Member States:   The erosion of human rights and humanitarian norms leads directly to human suffering, instability, disorder, increased security risks, and renewed cycles of displacement. At this critical moment, the world needs stronger, not weaker, commitment to international law, and urgent action to protect asylum-seekers, refugees, and ultimately, our shared humanity.   History reminds us what is at stake. The right to seek asylum is a fundamental part of human cultural and religious traditions. Many of us who are living today found refuge because States honored their obligations. Prominent examples of indifference, slow response, or inaction have cost millions of lives, those who we abandoned, left to face horrific fates, are a stain on our shared history.   http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/library/as-refugee-convention-approaches-its-75th-anniversary-global-civil-society-coalition-calls-for-strengthened-implementation http://icvanetwork.org/news/10091951 http://www.caritas.org/our-priorities/human-mobility http://actalliance.org/migration-and-displacement/ http://genevasolutions.news/peace-humanitarian/you-end-up-feeling-caged-75-years-on-embattled-refugee-convention-faces-tightening-asylum   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/07/no-shortcuts-around-torture-ban-governments-overhaul-removal-systems-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/respect-international-humanitarian-law-essential-prevent-and-address http://www.ohchr.org/en/topic/migration http://www.hrw.org/topic/refugees-and-migrants http://www.refugeesinternational.org/statements-and-news/new-report-aid-cuts-are-dismantling-the-women-led-organizations-that-support-women-and-girls-in-humanitarian-crises/   June 2026   UNHCR's latest Global Trends report 2025, published in June 2026, provides key statistical trends on forced displacement. It includes the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people, as well as the number of refugees who have returned home.   At the end of 2025, there were 41.6 million refugees globally, including refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, people in a refugee-like situation, other people in need of international protection. In addition, there were 68.7 million people displaced within their own country due to conflict or violence.   The global number of refugees fell during 2025 with a decrease of 3 per cent compared to the end of 2024. This change reflects a sharp increase in the returns of refugees, mostly to Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan.   The number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) also decreased due to the returns of IDPs primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Syria. However, many of the returns occurred under adverse circumstances and the reintegration conditions remain extremely challenging.   One in every 70 people, or 1.4 per cent of the entire world’s population, is now forcibly displaced.   Seven in ten refugees under UNHCR's mandate and other people in need of international protection originate from just six countries: Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.   Most people fleeing conflict and persecution remain near their country of origin. At the end of 2025, 65 per cent of refugees were hosted in neighbouring countries.   Low and middle-income countries continue to host the majority of the world’s refugees, hosting 68 per cent of refugees and other people in need of international protection.   Most people who are forced to flee never cross an international border, remaining displaced within their own countries. Known as internally displaced people, or IDPs, they account for 58 per cent of all forcibly displaced people. At the end of 2025, 68.7 million people remained internally displaced due to conflict and violence.   Sudan remains the largest internal displacement globally with 9.1 million people still displaced within the country at the end of the year.   In 2025, 14.7 million people returned to their areas or countries of origin, including nearly 4.4 million refugees and 10.3 million IDPs. 92 per cent of all returns occurred in just seven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.6 million), Sudan (3.5 million), Syria (3.3 million), Afghanistan (2 million), Ukraine (718,300) and Myanmar (415,200).   Refugee returns under adverse circumstances and/or to fragile contexts   Most refugees have a strong desire to return and rebuild their lives in their home country given adequate safety and stability. However, most returns in 2025 occurred under adverse circumstances or to extremely fragile contexts.   Afghan refugees were often compelled to return due to changes in the policies in their host countries, while Congolese IDPs had no choice but to leave following the forced closure of settlements. Syrian and Sudanese refugees and IDPs returned despite insecurity, inadequate basic services and limited livelihood opportunities.   Such returns are unlikely to be sustainable without critical investment to support reintegration, helping to promote development in countries deeply scarred by conflict.   Investment is also required in countries of asylum to help refugees support themselves and their families, as well as contribute to their country of asylum, until the conditions in their country of origin are conducive to their return. Most refugees hope to return.   With 70 per cent of refugees trapped in exile for years and many living below the poverty line, Barham Salih, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees urged the international community to back a new initiative to lift millions out of long-term displacement and reliance on humanitarian aid.   “For too many refugees, displacement starts as a lifeline but lasts a lifetime,” Salih said. “Humanitarian aid saves lives, but it is not the end point and does not enable refugees to become active agents in control of their futures. We need a paradigm shift that creates a new sense of hope and opportunity for people fleeing war and persecution."   Long-term displacement is now a defining feature of the global refugee landscape, with most refugees remaining in host countries for extended periods. In this context, advancing self-reliance and durable solutions, alongside continued protection and targeted humanitarian support, is essential.   UNHCR aims to support States and partners in halving, by 2035, the number of refugees and other people in need of international protection in protracted displacement who are unable to meet their basic needs without external support.   The focus is to expand access to solutions and opportunities for self-reliance such as access to work opportunities, national education, health, and social protection systems, enabling refugees to live in dignity and security, realise their potential and move beyond prolonged need.   The initiative calls on governments, humanitarian and development actors, the private sector and civil society to scale efforts to empower refugees while upholding asylum and protection, which is more crucial than ever as 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention.   “Asylum and protection are life-saving and not up for debate, but we cannot accept a future in which millions of refugees remain trapped for years or decades without realistic prospects of rebuilding their lives,” said Salih.   “We have an ambitious, achievable and quantifiable goal to transform lives for the better. UNHCR will work to galvanise efforts across society to meet this challenge and create pathways out of the grinding banality of protracted displacement for millions.”   http://www.unhcr.org/global-trend http://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/7-10-refugees-living-long-term-displacement-unhcr-chief-calls-renewed-push http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k15/k15c10r47j http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-middle-east-crisis-ripple-effects-strain-aid-efforts-beyond-region http://www.unhcr.org/news/announcements/acute-food-insecurity-and-malnutrition-remain-alarmingly-high-crises-deepen-un http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-hate-speech-and-misinformation-are-creating-real-world-harm-displaced http://www.unhcr.org/news/speeches-and-statements/courage-welcome-solidarity-divided-world   June 2026   117.8 million people displaced: an open wound on our shared humanity. (NRC)   Statement by Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on the new global displacement figures:   “The number of people who have fled their home because of violence and conflict has nearly tripled over the last 15 years. The 117.8 million people now violently displaced around the globe would constitute the world’s thirteenth largest country by population. Larger than Egypt, Germany, or the UK. A human toll of vast proportions, and a collective failure of humanity.   “For the first time in many years, the number of people displaced around the world is lower than the previous year – down from a record high of 123.2 million in 2025. But, this drop in displacement is in large part caused by involuntary return and without the support and services needed to begin to rebuild lives.   In Afghanistan, millions were forcibly returned from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, and in DR Congo some displacement camps were evacuated at gunpoint, sending thousands of families back to homes that no longer exist.   “At the same time millions continued to be uprooted while many more endured protracted crises with no solution in sight. The world continues to fail civilians caught by conflict and violence.   “Such large numbers are almost impossible to comprehend. And as an increasingly nationalistic world becomes increasingly desensitised to what it truly means to be forced to flee home, the gap between decision makers and donors and displaced people continues to widen. This cannot be accepted as the new normal.   “As humanitarians our work is to support displaced people in their hour of greatest need. To provide life-saving aid including clean water and shelter, and then to contribute the tools needed to rebuild life and hope.   “But we cannot do this without a world that is willing to stand up for humanity. We call on each of you to remind those in power why aid is not a luxury, but an essential. We must stand alongside people living through crisis. We must support diplomatic solutions to end crisis, and fund aid to relieve suffering. We must protect civilians and stand up for international humanitarian law. We must all remember our humanity.”   http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/117.8-million-people-displaced-an-open-wound-on-our-shared-humanity http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/dr-congo-on-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises-list-for-tenth-consecutive-year http://www.nrc.no/resources/reports/the-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises-2025 http://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2026/does-foreign-aid-really-make-a-difference http://www.nrc.no/feature/2025/a-global-displacement-crisis-as-the-world-abandons-aid   May 2026   Conflict and violence become the leading driver of internal displacements - Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre   Conflict and violence drove a record 32.3 million internal displacements in 2025, surpassing disaster displacements for the first time on record, according to the Global Report on Internal Displacement 2026 published today by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).   “Never have we recorded such a staggering number of displacements related to conflict,” said IDMC director Tracy Lucas. “As conflicts are intensifying, it is often the same people who are uprooted again and again. Yet the systems meant to protect them are being dismantled.”   The number of internal displacements includes each instance a person is forced to flee within the borders of their own country, often multiple times over the course of the year.   Meanwhile, the number of people living in internal displacement remained near record levels, at 82.2 million, the second-highest figure ever recorded.   Emerging, escalating and entrenched conflicts forced people to move repeatedly within their countries, driving a 60 per cent increase in conflict displacements compared with 2024. As instability deepened throughout the year, Iran, with 10 million internal displacements, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 9.7 million, together represented two-thirds of conflict displacements.   Disasters also continued to drive large-scale forced movement. Storms, floods and other hazards triggered 29.9 million internal displacements in 2025, a 35 per cent decrease compared with the exceptionally high levels of 2024, but still 13 per cent above the annual average of the past decade.   Countries previously less affected recorded large-scale displacements, while previous hotspots continued to be exposed, pointing to the ever-evolving patterns linked to a changing climate and need to invest in climate adaptation. Wildfires illustrated this shift by becoming an increasingly significant driver of displacement globally, accounting for more than 694,000 displacements in 2025, the hazard’s second-highest figure recorded in the past decade.   While the total number of internally displaced people fell slightly compared with 2024, it remained close to its historic peak. The decline was partly linked to reported returns, many of which took place under fragile conditions.   “Internal displacement of tens of millions is a sign of a global collapse in prevention of conflict and basic protection of civilians,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). “Countless families are returning to destroyed homes and disappearing services - or cannot return at all. From DR Congo and Sudan to Iran and Lebanon, we see millions more displaced on top of the previous record numbers driven out if their homes. We cannot continue like this.”   Internal displacement remained highly concentrated: nearly half of all conflict IDPs (31.4 million) lived in just five countries, with Sudan hosting the largest number for the third consecutive year (9.1 million), followed by Colombia (7.2 m), Syria (6 m), Yemen (4.8 m) and Afghanistan (4.4 m).   In 2025, data availability declined in several contexts due to fewer assessments and reduced coverage, limiting visibility on displacement dynamics and the situation of displaced people.   “Reliable displacement data is critical for understanding where needs and risks are greatest and for ensuring that policies and resources match the scale of the challenge,” Lucas said. “With rising needs and shrinking resources, investing in national data systems and coordination remains essential.”   Global instability deepened in 2025, driving internal displacement to near-record levels worldwide. A total of 62.2 million internal displacements were reported during the year, including a record 32.3 million displacements caused by conflict and violence and 29.9 million caused by disasters.   Disaster displacements declined from the extreme highs of 2024, but risks remain severe. The 29.9 million disaster displacements recorded in 2025 were still 13 per cent above the average of the past decade, underscoring the fluctuating but persistent toll of climate and weather shocks.   Growing data gaps risk hiding the scale and impact of the crises. In 2025, IDMC observed reduced displacement data availability in 15 per cent of monitored countries, three times the share of 2024.   What is needed to reduce the number of IDPs?   Humanitarian aid alone will not suffice to reduce the scale of displacement. To help IDPs put a sustainable end to their situation, governments need to set up policies and take actions that resolve conflicts and build peace, reduce poverty and disaster risk, and enable people to return, resettle, or locally integrate in host communities. Data on displacement and solutions will continue to be key to inform such policies and actions moving forward.   * The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is the world's leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement. Since its establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), IDMC has provided high-quality data, analysis and expertise on internal displacement to inform policy and operational decisions that can improve the lives of internally displaced people (IDPs) worldwide and reduce the risk of future displacement.   http://www.internal-displacement.org/news/conflict-and-violence-become-the-leading-driver-of-internal-displacements/ http://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2026/ http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/conflict-and-violence-become-the-leading-driver-of-internal-displacements Visit the related web page
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