Amid escalating violence and intensifying humanitarian needs across Colombia, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that years of progress in protecting and integrating displaced populations are at risk of being lost, and the most vulnerable will pay the highest price. UNHCR said refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) may be forced to move again in search of safety and stability, while returnees will not find conditions to resettle.
Colombia hosts one of the largest populations of uprooted people in the world, with more than 7 million IDPs, nearly 3 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants, and more than 500,000 Colombian returnees.
“For years, the country has been a pillar of regional solidarity with those fleeing violence and instability,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told journalists in Geneva on Friday.
“However, as funding dries up, UNHCR is being forced to suspend essential services, threatening to undo years of progress and leaving the most vulnerable without the support they desperately need.”
The UNHCR spokesperson warned that key programs that support conflict-affected communities, enable the safe return of internally displaced families, and regularize informal urban settlements are being scaled back or eliminated.
“These cuts undermine progress toward stability, local integration, and self-reliance for refugees and internally displaced people,” he said.
According to UNHCR, the consequences of the funding gap are being acutely felt in the conflict-ridden Catatumbo region along Colombia's border with Venezuela. Recent clashes between non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have forcibly displaced more than 63,000 people in what is now the largest incident of mass displacement in Colombia's history.
“Despite its humanitarian coordination role in the area, UNHCR has had to halt the distribution of basic relief items such as mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, solar lamps, and mosquito nets even though violence continues,” Spindler said, noting that beyond emergency relief, long-term stabilization efforts are also faltering.
The spokesman said the suspension of child protection programs has been a particularly devastating blow. The suspension of these programs puts thousands of children at acute risk of recruitment by armed groups, exploitation and abuse.
“The documentation of over 500,000 Venezuelans is also at risk due to the lack of funding.[…] Without identification, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans will face challenges in settling down, accessing health care, education, and lawful employment, dramatically increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse,” Spindler added.
In addition, the funding freeze has also forced the suspension or scaling back of several other critical programs implemented by UNHCR or through UNHCR's partners in the South American country.
Since 2015, 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their country. Colombia has received the largest number of Venezuelans, but all countries in the region have received large numbers of migrants and refugees from Venezuela.
The UN Refugee Agency is urgently calling on the international community to step up its support and provide the necessary funding to sustain its operations in Colombia. The organization needs US$118.3 million to continue its critical work this year.
Meanwhile, the 2025 Colombia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which seeks US$342.3 million to assist some 2 million of the 9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, is only 13 percent funded as of today.
The Regional Response Plan (RRP) for Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean, which requires $1.4 billion to support more than 2.34 million refugees and migrants, as well as affected host communities, is currently only 4.6 percent funded.
“Colombia has shown remarkable generosity in hosting millions of refugees and migrants. But this must be matched by global solidarity, before more lives are pushed into deeper hardship and insecurity,” Spindler said.
Up to 2024, the United States has been a major contributor to operations in Colombia and Latin America - by far the largest contributor to UNHCR operations in the Americas, although other donors, including Japan, Sweden and Spain, have provided significant support to Colombia.
Eight years after the signing of a peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the humanitarian situation in Colombia is still characterized by massive internal displacement and insecurity due to armed violence.
The country has endured more than six decades of intense armed conflict, fueled by widespread illicit drug production and trafficking and rooted in territorial control by armed groups. At least 9.3 million people are affected by the presence of NSAGs.
Crisis in global humanitarian funding
Global humanitarian funding has sharply declined in 2025, largely due to extreme funding cuts by the United States, but also by other major donors such as the United Kingdom and Germany. While global funding has been dropping since 2022, despite rising needs, this year's levels are expected to fall to record lows following the brutal cuts imposed by the new US administration.
UNHCR, like many humanitarian organizations, has been severely affected and has responded with drastic measures, including the suspension of a number of field programs, amid deep concerns about the impact of the funding crisis on the people UNHCR is helping.
The UN agency has also been forced to reduce its staff at headquarters, regional offices and on the ground. UNHCR is appealing to donors to continue funding its global work, which has a vital and immediate impact around the world, with millions of people depending on the organization.
Refugees and internally displaced people are among the most vulnerable people worldwide who are paying the price for the financial crisis that has gripped the international aid sector, made much worse by the radical US slashing.
Burundi: Funding shortfalls threaten emergency response for Congolese refugees
Also on Friday, UNHCR warned that the humanitarian response in Burundi to the growing influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) is being stretched to its limits as the funding crisis there threatens critical assistance and strains relations between refugees and host communities.
Burundi borders DR Congo, which is facing one of the largest and most severe humanitarian crises in the world. The crisis has impacted the small neighboring country, which is one of the most densely populated and one of the poorest nations in Africa.
The security situation throughout eastern DRC remains highly volatile. Since the beginning of the year, more than 136,000 people have fled from DR Congo to neighboring countries, most of them to Burundi.
Even before the latest influx, Burundi was hosting some 87,000 refugees, as well as returning Burundian refugees, mostly from Tanzania.
“New arrivals fleeing conflict in the DRC have led to the first new refugee emergency unfolding amid the current global humanitarian funding crisis, and the consequences are already stark,” said Ayaki Ito, UNHCR's Emergency Director, in Geneva.
“UNHCR and partners continue to work tirelessly to maximize available resources and provide life-saving assistance and protection services, but the growing needs, coupled with extreme funding gaps, have left the response falling short. “
Ito warned that without sufficient support, refugees are being forced to make difficult choices in order to survive.
Since January, more than 71,000 people have crossed into Burundi, fleeing ongoing violence in the eastern part of the Central African country. Of these, more than 12,000 have been relocated to the Musenyi refugee site in eastern Burundi, while others are living with host communities in border areas with whom they have close ties.
„The living conditions in the Musenyi refugee site, which now hosts some 16,000 refugees, are becoming unsustainable. Emergency tents had to be pitched on lowland areas initially designated for farming due to overcrowding,” Ito said.
“With the rainy season starting, many are now flooded, further compromising living conditions and increasing risks of disease. Basic services such as schools, clinics, and sanitation facilities are either non-existent or overwhelmed, with tensions rising between pre-existing refugee communities and recent arrivals.”
Due to significant funding shortfalls for their response, UNHCR and its partner aid agencies are facing critical limitations in providing protection services to survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and unaccompanied or separated children.
In addition, the UN agency is no longer able to distribute dignity kits, leaving nearly 11,000 women and girls without access to basic hygiene items. Support for family tracing has also been severely reduced, making it increasingly difficult to identify, locate and reunite separated children with their families.
Ito emphasized that despite limited resources and ongoing operational challenges, UNHCR teams continue to prioritize the delivery of life-saving assistance and protection.
“This balancing act is becoming increasingly impossible, with teams on the ground running a full-scale emergency response, responding to the needs of existing refugees in the country, and preparing for future arrivals while also facing pressure to reduce their operations because of funding shortages,” he said.
UNHCR is calling on donors and development agencies to scale up support to improve basic life-saving services for refugees in Burundi, and to invest in long-term initiatives that benefit both refugees and host communities. Humanitarian agencies in the country urgently need $76.5 million to respond to the current crisis.
North-east Nigeria: Funding cuts disrupt healthcare, severe acute malnutrition treatment
Other aid agencies are also being hit hard by the global funding crisis. In an update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that funding shortfalls in Nigeria are forcing aid workers to cut back on critical support, including health and nutrition services.
OCHA reported that some aid agencies have had to lay off staff and reduce services - including for primary healthcare and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Overall, funding cuts have affected 70 percent of health services and 50 percent of nutrition services in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
North-east Nigeria is grappling with a severe malnutrition crisis, which is expected to affect 2.6 million children under the age of five this year. This includes 1 million children who are likely to suffer from life-threatening SAM.
OCHA said that as the lean season approaches, it is critical that the international community steps up funding to address escalating food insecurity.
At the beginning of this year, the UN and its partners appealed for $910 million to reach 3.6 million people in Nigeria with critical assistance and protection. But in the face of brutal funding cuts, the UN humanitarian office has been forced to reprioritize its response, focusing on the most life-saving interventions for the most vulnerable people.
According to OCHA, these interventions require $298 million. To date, less than a quarter of that amount - just over $70 million - has been received from donors.