Sudanese Refugees Face Aid Collapse as UNHCR Cuts $1.4 Billion in Global Assistance

Photo: UNHCR

July 21, 2025 Hour: 5:21 pm

Refugees fleeing Sudan’s escalating conflict are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) slashes $1.4 billion in aid due to a global funding shortfall.

At the Sudan-Chad border, more than 60% of newly arrived refugees—many from Darfur—are receiving no shelter, according to UNHCR’s Dominique Hyde, who described the situation as “tragic and unsustainable.”

Thousands more remain stranded in remote areas of South Sudan, beyond reach of basic services. “If we just had a bit more support, we could get them to settlements,” Hyde said in an urgent appeal for donor flexibility.

🚨 As global displacement soars, critical aid is vanishing.

UNHCR’s @DominiqueHyde urges all donors — governments, institutions, individuals — to step up.

The lives of millions are hanging in the balance. pic.twitter.com/jdvol5jNsQ
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) July 18, 2025

The cuts threaten to strip 11.6 million displaced people—one-third of those served last year—of access to direct humanitarian aid, including:

Refugee registration and legal counselling
Child protection and gender-based violence prevention
Emergency shelter and food distribution

In South Sudan, 75% of safe spaces for women and girls have closed, leaving up to 80,000 without access to psychosocial care, medical treatment, or legal aid.

“Behind these numbers are real lives hanging in the balance,” Hyde warned. “Families are seeing the support they relied on vanish, forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines or paying rent”.

The crisis is pushing many Sudanese refugees to risk dangerous journeys north, with a 170% increase in arrivals to Europe in the first half of 2025. Many are falling prey to human traffickers, packed onto unseaworthy boats bound for the Mediterranean.

UNHCR’s 2025 budget requirement stands at $10.6 billion, but only 23% has been funded so far. Without urgent donor action, the agency warns that core life-saving operations will continue to be suspended across dozens of countries.