World Refugee Day: PM Sharif highlights Pakistan’s refugee burden, calls for shared global responsibility

WEB DESK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on World Refugee Day reflected upon Pakistan’s longstanding role in hosting displaced populations, as the world marked the occasion with renewed calls for stronger protection and support for refugees.

The day is being observed globally under the theme “Until Everyone Is Safe,” highlighting the scale of forced displacement driven by conflict, persecution, and climate-related disasters, and urging coordinated international action to address the crisis.

According to his message, PM Sharif noted that Pakistan had hosted millions of Afghans since 1979 despite limited resources, describing it as a humanitarian commitment sustained over more than four decades. He said the country had faced significant economic, social, environmental, and security pressures as a result.

He said Pakistan’s policy has now shifted towards a phased, orderly and dignified repatriation process, which began in September 2023. According to official figures cited in the statement, more than 2.4 million Afghan nationals have returned to their homeland by June 2026.

The prime minister stressed that a stable and economically viable Afghanistan is essential for lasting solutions, adding that the protection, safety and rehabilitation of refugees cannot rest on host countries alone. He called for greater international burden-sharing and sustained global support for both refugees and host communities.

Across the world, humanitarian agencies, civil society organisations and governments are holding events to highlight the plight of refugees and advocate for their rights. The UNHCR has reiterated that safety is a fundamental human right, urging states to move beyond rhetoric and focus on long-term solutions including resettlement and integration.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reiterated that safety is not a luxury but a fundamental human right, urging global powers to move past political rhetoric and focus on sustainable integration and resettlement efforts.

Climate chaos fueling global displacement

The observance comes at a time when global displacement numbers have reached unprecedented heights, increasingly driven by climate change. By the end of 2024, a staggering 46m people were displaced by disasters nearly double the yearly average over the past decade, according to UNDP.

The fallout is visible across continents, Hurricane Milton recently forced nearly six million people from their homes in the United States, whilst floods in Brazil engulfed an area the size of the United Kingdom, displacing 775,000 people. In Chad, more people were driven from their homes by flooding in a single year than in the past 15 combined. Alarmingly, while 70pc of refugees and asylum seekers in 2023 originated from countries highly vulnerable to climate change, these fragile states receive the least support.

Major climate funds allocate just US$2 per person in vulnerable nations, compared to $162 in more stable countries. Experts argue this is dangerously short-sighted, as every $1 spent on adaptation and resilience generates USD10 in future benefits.

Where investment does flow, solutions are emerging: solar-powered water systems are easing resource tensions in Yemen, clean energy and land restoration are mitigating conflict in Mali, and solar plants in Jordan’s Azraq and Za’atari camps now power the lives of over 100,000 Syrian refugees.