World Immigration News

(The New Humanitarian)Wealthy countries want refugees close to home – but make it impossible

Release Date: 2026-09-21
Media: The New Humanitarian
Summary: Wealthy countries increasingly argue that refugees should remain closer to their countries of origin. Yet they are simultaneously weakening the conditions that make this possible by restricting asylum, reducing resettlement and legal pathways, and cutting humanitarian aid. At the end of 2025, the world had 41.6 million refugees, with nearly 70% of refugees and others needing international protection hosted by low- and middle-income countries and 65% living in countries neighbouring their homelands.

The refugee system has traditionally relied on an imperfect bargain: neighbouring countries provide most of the territory and protection, while wealthier states offer funding and accept a smaller number of refugees. This arrangement is now collapsing. Without legal status, documentation, employment rights, education, healthcare, and prospects for return, integration, or resettlement, “protection closer to home” risks leaving refugees poor, dependent, and out of sight.

Effective reform should strengthen host countries through predictable investment, enable refugees to work and access public services, maintain fair asylum procedures, and support safe returns and limited resettlement. Treating refugee protection itself as the problem will lead to more irregular movement, smuggling, border closures, and instability. Properly designed refugee protection is not an obstacle to migration management but an essential part of making displacement manageable.
Tags: World Wide

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