GENEVA: The UN refugee agency has scaled back its budget by 16 percent and lowered its official headcount by around 3,500 as it adapts to new financial constraints at a time when global displacement is forecast to climb to an all-time high next year, according to diplomats and documents seen by Reuters. The total cuts, on paper, would amount to a near halving of the workforce and a drop in the budget of a third since 2025, laying bare the cumulative impact of cuts due to reductions in foreign aid budgets by the Trump administration and others.

GENEVA: The UN refugee agency has scaled back its budget by 16 percent and lowered its official headcount by around 3,500 as it adapts to new financial constraints at a time when…

In 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had 16,126 budgeted posts versus 12,051 this year and 8,540 in 2027, the budget documents showed.