On a Friday on the margins of the annual gathering of the world's leaders, Barham Salih, a former refugee who once presided over Iraq and now leads the UN refugee agency, stood before the Security Council to make a case that aid alone cannot answer. More than 117 million people have been pried from their homes, and he asked the body charged with keeping the peace to accept that the only durable remedy for that vast uprooting is an end to the wars that cause it. It is a reminder, older than any single agency, that refuge is what humanity offers when it has failed to prevent harm, and that the d
UN Refugee Chief Urges Security Council to Prioritise Peace So 117 Million People Can Go Home
More than 117 million people are forced from their homes, including 12 million displaced in Sudan and millions displaced in Ukraine, with generations of refugees in camps.
Success must ultimately mean creating the conditions in which people no longer need us.
Mark
Why does it matter that this speech went to the Security Council rather than a humanitarian forum?
Mimi
Because Salih's argument is that aid agencies treat consequences, and the Charter gives the Council the job of maintaining peace. He was speaking to the body he says holds that responsibility.
Mark
He's a former refugee and ex-president of Iraq. Does that shape the message?
Mimi
It gives him a particular standing. He has lived on both sides, as someone displaced and as a head of state, though the reporting doesn't tell us how that informed his words.
Luke
Worth noting, then, that his biography is context, not evidence for any claim in the speech.
Mark
He cited Sudan with 12 million displaced. How solid is that?
Luke
It's his figure, given as displaced inside and outside the country. The report doesn't say how it was counted, so I'd treat it as UNHCR's number.
Mark
And the 2035 goal of halving long-term aid-dependent refugees?
Mimi
He admits it's ambitious and says it has to be. Success, in his framing, means people no longer needing the agency.
Luke
But there's no detail here on how it's measured or what baseline it starts from. And we don't know whether any Council member responded or committed to anything.
Mark
So what's actually known?
Mimi
That he made the appeal, named the crises, and gave Yemen figures: over 130,000 displaced inside the country and over 3,700 in Djibouti.
Luke
And that's where the reporting stops. Whether it changes anything is unknown.
Il Polso
- Over 117 million people are uprooted, and the largest single crisis, Sudan's war, has forced 12 million from their homes.
- Humanitarian workers are stretched thin, sustaining camps and aid lines for generations of families who cannot yet go home.
- The UN refugee chief has pressed the divided Security Council to shoulder its charter duty to make peace possible in Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Western Sahara and Yemen.
- A new target to halve long-term aid dependence by 2035 sets an ambitious clock, and whether the Council answers his call will determine if it ticks toward real change or stalls.
On a Friday on the margins of the annual gathering of the world's leaders, Barham Salih, a former refugee who once presided over Iraq and now leads the UN refugee agency, stood before the Security Council to make a case that aid alone cannot answer. More than 117 million people have been pried from their homes, and he asked the body charged with keeping the peace to accept that the only durable remedy for that vast uprooting is an end to the wars that cause it. It is a reminder, older than any single agency, that refuge is what humanity offers when it has failed to prevent harm, and that the deeper hope is for a world where no one has to be offered it at all.
On Friday, on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders, Barham Salih addressed the 15 members of the Security Council for the first time since his election as UN high commissioner for refugees last December. He knows displacement from the inside: he is a former refugee, and he served as Iraq's president from 2018 to 2022.
His central argument was that more than 117 million people have been forced from their homes, and that the world must end the conflicts behind that number so they can return rather than leave whole generations stranded abroad. Humanitarians can treat the consequences of war, he said, but only the Security Council, under the UN Charter, can create peace. He urged its members to use that responsibility.
Salih moved through the crises one by one. Sudan's war is the largest displacement emergency, with 12 million people uprooted inside and outside the country. In Congo, families have lived through cycles of violence, now compounded by an escalating Ebola outbreak. Ukraine has seen millions displaced at home and millions more sent abroad. In Western Sahara, refugees have grown up in camps near Tindouf in Algeria, waiting for a political settlement. In Yemen, UNHCR is supporting more than 130,000 people displaced inside the country and over 3,700 who have reached Djibouti.
He returned to a goal set earlier this year: halving, by 2035, the number of long-term refugees who depend on aid. He called it ambitious and necessary, because keeping people alive year after year is not success. Success, he said, means that people no longer need the agency at all, and that children stop inheriting displacement from their parents.
The Council, which he described as divided, now faces the question of whether it will act on any of these conflicts, and whether the 2035 target can gain real momentum.
On Friday, on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders, Barham Salih stood before the 15 members of the Security Council and asked them to do something humanitarian agencies cannot. Salih, the UN high commissioner for refugees, was giving his first address to the Council since his election to the post last December. He is himself a former refugee, and he served as Iraq's president from 2018 to 2022.
His message was that more than 117 million people have been forced from their homes, and that the world should be working to end the conflicts behind that number so they can go back, rather than leaving whole generations displaced in foreign countries. The Council, he said, has "a unique responsibility to help make peace possible." He urged its members to use it, on behalf of those already uprooted and the millions more who should never have to flee.
Salih drew a line between what his own side of the work can and cannot do. Humanitarians, including the staff of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, deal daily with the consequences of war, he said, but they cannot create peace. Under the UN Charter, that task belongs to the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security.
He then went through the conflicts producing displacement. Sudan's war remains the world's largest displacement crisis, with 12 million people displaced inside and outside the country. "As long as this war continues, people will continue to flee," he said. In Congo, he said, generations have lived through cycles of conflict and violence, and an escalating Ebola crisis now compounds the situation. In Ukraine, the war has displaced millions within the country and sent millions more abroad.
He also pointed to Western Sahara, the disputed territory Morocco claims. Generations of refugees from there have grown up in camps near Tindouf, in neighbouring Algeria, he said, facing uncertainty and limited prospects while awaiting a political solution.
On the latest escalation in the Middle East, Salih said UNHCR has mobilised resources and staff to assist more than 130,000 Yemenis who fled recent hostilities and remain inside Yemen, along with more than 3,700 who have sought safety in Djibouti.
He returned to a target he launched earlier this year: cutting by half, by 2035, the number of refugees in long-term displacement who depend on humanitarian aid. He called the goal ambitious, and said it has to be, because keeping people alive year after year while they cannot rebuild their lives cannot be the end goal.
Success, he said, cannot mean getting better at sustaining people caught in war for another year, or opening a new camp in response to a 50-year emergency. Nor can it mean children inheriting displacement from their parents. "Success must ultimately mean creating the conditions in which people no longer need us," he said. UNHCR's ambition, in his words, is to prevent displacement where possible, resolve it where it has happened, and create conditions for people to rebuild in safety and dignity.
What to watch now is whether the Council, which Salih described as divided, acts on any of the conflicts he named, and whether the 2035 target gains traction.
Citazioni salienti
As long as this war continues, people will continue to flee.— Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on Sudan
The Security Council has a unique responsibility to help make peace possible.— Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
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