New York, NY, June 13, 2024 —  Ahead of World Refugee Day, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the release of the UNHCR global trends report, which shows that this is the worst of times for many displaced people with 120 million displaced globally.  This number has more than doubled over the past ten years. According to the report, 6.9 million people are seeking asylum worldwide. Asylum claims in the United States increased by 1.2 million cases in 2023, a 61% increase from 2022. 

The figures are shocking—the human misery is even more so. Behind every number is an individual story.

These unprecedented numbers show the need for a new humanitarian surge. This surge of support needs to offer respite and re-establish meaning to global laws and norms for the treatment of civilians affected by conflict. 

With 75% of displaced people in poorer rather than richer countries, this is a moment for global responsibility. The forthcoming World Refugee Day should mark a new commitment to help people in need, not just a historic number of people in need. That calls for the private sector, NGOs, governments, and multilateral organizations to work together for new solutions.  

The IRC has welcomed the Biden Administration’s commitment to rebuilding and innovating the US Refugee Admissions Program, with an ambitious refugee admissions target of 125,000 for this past fiscal year and expanding complementary pathways to resettlement, which have the potential to provide critical protection to even more people in need - and furthers America’s foreign policy and national security interests.  The Biden Administration and Congress should harness the ongoing efforts of federal and state authorities, as well as broader support from the American public, to provide a safe, humane, and orderly reception process, with support for border and interior communities. 

US leadership should take bipartisan action to adopt solutions that would expand proven and cost-effective programs like community-based case management as an alternative to detention, ensure asylum seekers can work to support themselves, and expand and improve other pathways to protection like humanitarian parole programs. The current use of this authority to allow certain Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) as well as certain Afghans and Ukrainians to enter the US has provided a lifeline to tens of thousands of people. Evidence has shown that arrivals from CHNV countries at the US southern border fell by as much as 44 percent after the start of the parole program, which has provided a safe alternative to irregular entry.

Yet, the Biden administration announced and implemented last week a new executive action on the border that would further restrict the right to seek asylum at the US southern border. These actions are harmful, counterproductive, and violate the Refugee Convention. Contrary to the authority cited in President Biden’s executive order that treats family and individuals arriving at the border as “detrimental to the interests of the United States,” overwhelming evidence shows that refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants greatly benefit America. 

Today’s figures demand bipartisan collaboration, diplomatic muscle, resourcing, and know-how to deliver for the world’s most vulnerable people. The debate on these ideas is urgently needed; real answers even more so. Only then can this grim milestone be avoided yet again next year, as millions of lives and livelihoods hang in the balance. 

David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC, added:

“Those fleeing for their lives need protection, dignity and respect.  These man-made problems need equal effort in response.  This is not too much to ask."