Migration and Refugee Assistance

Description

Through the U.S. State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and other partners, Migration and Refugee Assistance funds mitigate and resolve conflict-related displacement and support humanitarian action and diplomacy for displaced populations.

Use of Funds

Funds help meet the basic human needs of displaced people, including refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons; support sustainable and dignified solutions to their displacement; and assist the countries hosting them. Durable solutions include the voluntary return of refugees to their place of origin if the conditions permit, safely remaining in the location of displacement with integration into host communities, or resettlement to a third country. Funds also support the admission, reception, and placement of refugees to the United States.

Justification

• In 2020, 82.4 million people were forced to flee worldwide, nearly half of whom are children, and a vast majority of displaced persons are hosted in developing countries (86%).
• Crises that force people to leave their homes occur more frequently and last longer. At the end of 2020, UNHCR identified 49 protracted refugee situations affecting 76% of all refugees globally. Such situations could last for decades.
• Between 2018 and 2020, 1 million children were born as refugees.
• The crisis in Afghanistan has led to a significant rise in displacement within the country, with 665,000 people, 80% of whom are women and children, forced from their homes in 2021 alone. This comes on top of 40 years of conflict and chronic poverty and food insecurity that has led to Afghans being one of the largest refugee populations worldwide.