75 Years after its adoption, the Refugee Convention faces its most serious test, new IRC report warns

New York, NY, July 13, 2026 - The global system protecting refugees is under the most sustained pressure in its 75-year history, a newly released International Rescue Committee (IRC) report finds. Collapsing humanitarian funding, shrinking resettlement, and a wave of governments turning away people seeking protection are undermining the 1951 Refugee Convention's core promise that no one should be returned to danger.

The report, Protection Under Pressurefinds that more than 50 million people forced from their homes now depend on the protections the Convention established, even as humanitarian funding fell by more than $31 billion in 2025 and global resettlement commitments dropped by more than half. The retreat spans the Convention's original signatories and beyond, with governments cutting refugees' path to permanent status, capping integration programs, and scaling back resettlement commitments even as displacement climbs.

"The Refugee Convention was a promise, made in the shadow of one of the darkest chapters of history, that nobody fleeing persecution should ever be sent back to danger. That promise remains as vital today as it was in 1951," said David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. "Yet we are witnessing the most serious assault on that commitment in a generation, with governments across the world turning away asylum seekers at borders and normalizing forced returns in violation of the Convention."

For 75 years, the Refugee Convention has helped tens of millions rebuild their lives, reunite with family, and contribute to the communities that welcomed them. The IRC is now calling on governments, international institutions, and donors to rebuild a system that matches today's realities and tomorrow's needs. It sets out three broad sets of actions to uphold the spirit and obligations of the Convention:

• Support Well-Functioning Asylum and Reception Systems: Properly resource asylum determination and reception, guarantee legal assistance and protections for vulnerable groups, allow applicants to work during adjudication, and use fast-track processing for manifestly well-founded claims to free up resources for more complex cases.
• Make Smart Investments in Durable Integration: Replace temporary, revocable status with clear, predictable pathways to permanent residence and citizenship, and invest early in workforce integration, credentialing, and access to credit - measures proven to pay long-term fiscal and social dividends.
• Recommit to Global Cooperation: Countries in the Global North should make and keep pledges under the Global Compact on Refugees and the EU's Union Resettlement Framework, reverse cuts to humanitarian aid, and expand concessional financing for the low- and middle-income countries hosting 68% of the world's refugees.

"This anniversary is a moment to celebrate what the Convention has achieved, defend what works, and fix what doesn't," Miliband said. "We've seen what works: giving refugees legal certainty, investing early in integration, and sharing responsibility fairly. The question isn't whether solutions exist. It's whether governments will muster the political courage to implement them."

NOTE TO EDITORS

Protection Under Pressure is a 7-page policy brief published by the IRC, which draws on programmatic evidence across 40 countries to assess the state of global refugee protection and advance recommendations on asylum systems, durable integration, and responsibility-sharing. It is released to mark the Convention's 75th anniversary on July 28, 2026, and is available at https://www.rescue.org/report/protection-under-pressure.